Adventures of The EAS Gandalf
by Col.Foley
Summary: Taking place during the events of the Earth Centauri War as suggested by Galen, this follows the perspective of a single crew from a Warlock Class Destroyer, its crew, and its missions.
1. The Captain's War

Explosions blotted out space. Some bright and quick, brief glimpses representing the death of single pilots racing to stop the oncoming storm. Some, long and deadly, going over increasingly on ward and on ward and on ward, blinding those who witnessed it. Destroyers and Cruisers, and defense platforms meeting their final funeral pyres, their crews suffering for the endless void, to oblivion.

A lone starfurry was racing past, performing acrobatic maneuvers as it turned around and delivered another spread of high yield plasma bolters into the Draque ship's engine compartment.

Lt. Scott Patterson, Earthforce pilot, had to wretch his engine control stick full around, swinging his fighter around in the opposite direction, and then accelerating down and away from the enemy vessel that was attempting to get a target lock on his fleeing vessel. They never managed to.

"All fighters, all fighters. This is the EAS Pluto, we have taken heavy damage to our port bow, rotation is down, we are loosing artificial gravity on all sectors, need defensive assistance as we withdraw from battle!" He heard in his helmet.

He spun around as much as he could in his seat to look at the ball of fire that his ship was turning into, then he did a sweep of his scanner display, and saw his wingman was able to catch up with him.

"Alpha 4, you there?" Patterson's Wingman asked.

"Yeah. You ready for this?"

"But of course I am."

"Good, stand by to turn in 5….4….3….2….1…..0…full rotation burn!" He flung his stick in the opposite direction again rolling his fighter over as the retro rockets fired to bring him on his new course, his partner gently glided in on his wing and they both flew to their ship, eager to protect it.

They both spotted an enemy cruiser on their scopes, and gently glided in behind it, shredding speed as they attempted to get in behind the enemy vessel.

"They have seen us!" His com blared the alert. He threw the throttle open as his four engines added their power to his thrust. He then delivered four precise hits to the enemies starboard engine, then he swung up and went along the access of the enemy vessel, attempting to draw fire for his wingman who….

He looked on his radar as he watched his wingman pull off the difficult maneuver, he nearly cut his engine and pointed his nose toward the enemy, and then delivered a long stream of blue energy right along the hull of the enemy ship as he glided on down it.

He had to turn around in horror as he saw a white beam of energy strike the other starfurry, ripping it to shreads. He pulled back quickly on the flight atmosphere that was going on around him, on his displays, as he inverted his ship the other way he came, crossing over by its bow, completing one full rotation.

He pulled up hard on his stick making sure his retros fired bringing him up and close to the enemy vessel, but now speeding in the direction that he started out in, going along its axis. Right in between the crossfire from the EAS Pluto, and the one that he just hurt.

He had to spin out of the way as a high energy beam crossed his path and ripped a new hole in his ship causing an explosion, his fighter pivoted and swung, then rolled under the torrent of energy. He then had to accelerate past the hurtling debris as a piece missed his fighter and struck the side of the enemy ship.

A hail of plasma pulses then crossed his path as he went right on through the axis, and hit the engine compartment of the vessel, ripping it to shreds and causing debris and explosive forces to go throughout space, he accelerated right on through it, the fire ball engulfing his canopy, he saw nothing but clear space ahead from there on after wards. He pivoted back, and looked at the battle. Most of the Pluto's superstructure was engulfed in fire, scorchmarks, and general damage.

"All fighters, and all Earthforce vessels nearby, we are abandoning the ship, I repeat, abandoning ship, give us some covering fire as the shuttles leave the bay."

He wrenched and his seat to look at the attacking of the enemy fighters as they ran right into the ship, as shuttles began to spew forth from the Omega class Destroyers Launch bays.

He turned his fighter into a tight right hand turned using the retros to pass right on up to the top of his Destroyer. He pushed up his throttle to full to go down the entire axis of the Destroyer.

He threw the entire weight of his after burners on as he rocketed down the lenghth of the ship, inverting slowly as he did, one complete turn. An explosion happened in front of him, but he powered through it, turning as he did in order to come up and around behind the enemy fighters, which this plan worked. He wound up with two of them in his sights.

But that was it, for they both broke off, one going straight left, and the other down right. He powered through and followed the left one, as he spooled up his bolters, the Gs causing the straps to start tightening against his torso. The fighter danced in and out of his target lock as he attempted to get a lock, praying slightly that he would soon be able to, the only thing, this guy seemed to be good. Finally, with a yip of success, he pressed down on his firing launching a burst right into the tail pipe of the fleeing fighter.

He looked up and noticed that the dogfight had forced him way too close to the flaming ship. He quickly reversed his course as he went back to full burners, the fighter almost responding to both orders instantly, as the ship behind him exploded in a ball of ion and fusion. He nearly flew forward in his straps, he could feel, and hear, one of them snap off. He bashed his facemask and head on the front of the console, causing blood to start dripping down. He shook his head to clear it, and looked back over to what was once his ship. From what he could tell, only five shuttles had made it off before it met its death.

He then checked around all of space that he could see, looking for any contacts that he could go and find to kill. Forgetting momentarily to check his sensors, he did so. And saw a couple of Draque fighters fleeing from the scene at maximum speed, about 75 KM off.

He pulled his throttle forward again as he accelerated after the two. Pausing slightly as he noticed two more fighters approaching his rear, he turned around and fired a pulse at one of them, hitting the fighter in its port side and causing it to crumple and explode. The other enemy ship veered off hard.

He took off at the original group who took off toward the planet killer that was still looming at the edge of his scanners.

He then had to look behind as bolts of plasma flew past his fighter, he checked his scanners and picked up the vague window.

He threw his retros up and popped his fighter straight up into the air and turned directly to face the incoming fighters, as his retros fired bringing all motion to a stop.

Firing his plasma at the incoming enemy fighters again, taking one out, he then had to invert his plane and turn slightly to fire at the other one, taking it out as well. Satisfied he took a moment to relax, breathing a sigh of relief.

That was his mistake, his fighter lurched terribly, lighting up all the warning alarms as it went into a free spin, stars swinging in his view finder, as he realized that one of his engines were blown off.

He was slowly loosing consciousness at the spinning starscape in his view, he said a quick prayer again, as he completely blacked out.


	2. To the Sea of Stars

Now Captain Patterson was sitting in a room in Geneva, legs crossed one another as he read an old style magazine as he was waiting to see his commanding officer. It was now 2295, so long after the battle of Earth, and he rose to a rather comfortable position within Earth Force.

He was flipping through the pages, absentmindedly wondering as to the reason he was called here. But he suspected he knew, a new assignment would have been nice, anything really.

It had been seven months since his last real assignment, and that was to be the commanding officer on a shakedown cruise for a small corvette style ship. 18 people made up the crew, and for two months he was the only officer, as he got the ship ready for full on active duty.

He looked up at the presence of a pretty young aide who came up, with black hair, he folded his hands in his lap and gave her his most inquisitive look that he could currently muster. Which was not difficult to pull off because he did feel inquisitive.

"General Baker will see you now." She said with a voice that had a hint of southern Mississippi in it.

He nodded as he got up, closing the magazine and putting it under the table where he found it. He then picked up his auburn folder, and his best Navy hat, sticking both under one arm as he straightened out his uniform with a mighty and uncomfortable twist. He then straightened out his neck and proceeded to march through the double gray doors.

He hated the Earth Force Dress Blues, with a passion. The Navy had not generally changed their style for either of their uniforms in well over 70 years, while the army and marines did so, and recently. The only addition was with the Explorer ships and even those were over fifty years old. Those were comfortable, as he had found out by serving on an explorer ship for six years after the last major war. One of his favorite assignments, but it virtually dead-ended his career for six years, despite his assignment as chief of the ships tactical wing. The Uniforms he wore were….most uncomfortable, as if they were designed to cause the most pain, and the most uneven space, bunching up here and there at times. And they did not even look nice! Unlike those 'Army of Light' Uniforms that the rangers sometimes wore to this day. With their history drawn back to when Babylon 5 seceded from the Earth Alliance. Now even that station had been destroyed. He has been there five times, three of those as a tourist without any official duty. Amazed each time by the sense of wonder and accomplishment permeating the walls.

He entered the doors, the aide, a young Ensign, pushing them open. He walked down the long exotic hall way, with glass windows on one side that reveled the existence of Geneva sprawling out before them. Book shelves to the left of him, and his polished dress shoes skirted the carpeted floor, hughes of blue and black making boxes and patterns on it.

He reached his destination, another double wooden door, this time with simulation oak instead of real wood or plastic. He entered himself and saw that the General was just seeing a fellow officer out, she looked old and gray, but oddly familiar. But he did not have time to relax, at all.

General Baker turned on him and gave him a toothy grin, that struck Patterson as being a good deal false, but his obvious warmth radiating at his next words convinced him otherwise.

"Ah, Captain, how are you? Do sit down, may I get you anything, tea, coffee, Col Simms just brought in some Centauri Crumpets."

"No thank you I am fine sir" He waved his commander off with a small shake of the head, sitting down in the large plush chair.

"Down to buisness then" He said with what seemed to be a grave nod.

He hit a button on his desk and the wall monitor behind him lit up. "I am sure that you recognize that ship Captain?"

He looked at the ship curiously, for a few seconds longer then he really needed to, as a smile lit his features and he nodded to himself. "Yes, of course I do, one of the latest models to the most advanced version of a Warlock class Destroyer if I am not mistaken?" He turned to his officer and he smiled.

"Correct"

He stroked the gray stubble on his chin before continuing with his offer. "Specifically, this is the latest of the Warlock's to come off the assembly line….they are still building them you know?"

Patterson nodded yet again, his eyes lightening up as he did not dare to think what he was being offered, with his lack of real experience? This was a dream come true for hundreds of officers.

"Now, you do have command experience in your file is right?"

"Yes sir." He said simply.

"No family or children?"

"No sir."

"Good."

"Sir, if I may ask, why me?"

"Well during your seven month sojourn into unemployment you spent a lot of time in the bridge simulators. I watched your stuff, you have great tactical instincts it seems."

"Thank you sir." He nodded, feeling a little light hearted.

"Oh, and as is tradition you are going to be able to pick at least most of your command crew, as well as anyone else who you might think of that would make good candidates for your ship"

Patterson nodded, finally bringing up a grin, General Baker responded slightly with the same, then they moved to clasp each other's hand.

Hours later he was arrived back in his apartment building in the suburbs of Boston, he entered the room as the lights turned on almost automatically. He laid his duffle bag down on the couch, and collapsed next to it. Rubbing his hands through the rich brown hair that made him look about fifteen years younger then he was, and about thirty years younger then he felt. The trip had been highly draining on him.

His Dog came up and stuck his nose in between his owner's legs. "Hi Bobby" He greeted the loyal pet enthusiastically as he scratched him behind the ears, and then frowned as he realized that he was going to have to find a place to stick the young pup now that he had a star ship command that would be taking up most of his free time.

He leaned back, still managing to absentmindedly scratch the dog as he pondered the issue. A sudden idea occurred to him that would likely work, but his frown almost morphed itself into a scowl. The only person that he could think of that would do it, an animal lover to boot herself, was his half sister who was 25 years his junior.

He himself was an only child, but his father remarried a much younger woman then himself later on, and had three kids with her. Jeff was Scott's personal favorite, right next to admittedly Jennifer, whom he liked, its just that there was something odd about his relationship with his half sister that he never was quite able to pin down.

She was just starting out on her own, in college for a few years getting her degree in comparative history.

He gave her a call, and her face lit up on the screen from her tiny New York apartment. "Scott!" She yipped enthusiastically.

His smile softened a bit as he responded with a simple "Hey Jen, how is life?"

"Busy, my studies are really taking up a lot of my time right here and right now. Yours?"

Scott almost doubted himself that he made the right decision, but he plowed right on ahead. "Actually that is what I wanted to call about, Earth Force just gave me a new command, a starship too."

"Oh that is wonderful news!" She yipped again spreading her arms wide.

"Which brings me to Bobby…"

"The Dog? You want me to take him in right?" Before he could respond she said most enthusiastically, "of course I will do it!"

He grinned at her response and eagerness. "That is settled then." They then talked for a half-hour before she went back to her studies.

He then went over and fed the dog, then took him for a walk, and then sat back down into a chair facing the com unit, pondering a thought that he just had.

He leaned in the chair and typed in his command, and the word connecting flashed before it. Then the image changed to a man in white pajamas, with a white crown of hair across his features. "What do you want?" He announced in his usual crotchety manner that was only amplified by the fact that it was nearly 2300, and Scott had obviously just woken the poor sod up. "Oh, hi Scott." He said in false softness.

"Howdy Colonel, sorry about the hour." He said wincing to himself and giving the gruff old marine and shipmate a sympathetic smile.

"Eh…its not a problem in the world Captain, how are things by the way?"

"Earth Force gave me a new ship, the…" he checked the name. "Gandalf" He then realized, _who the heck named this ship_ he was quite familiar with the Lord of the Rings, but naming an advanced Destroyer after a character….odd.

"My congratulations" He said bluntly.

Scott's smile grew slightly wider. "I want you to be my first officer."

The Marine's mouth moved slightly agape, as he was wondering the reason why, for him to show any surprise at all, the Marine had to have been positively dumbstruck.

"….why? The standard is to have an officer that understands military tactics, and starship operations…and besides he needs to be more of a peoples person then the grouch of a Captain" He smiled at his last joke.

"All this is true, but come on, its been so long since the Pluto hasn't it? And we rarely see, or get to serve with the other, what you being on Caspius Station for the last eight years commanding the military detachment."

"True, and it seems that they are content to just sit here and let me

rot now that my usefulness is at an end." He grumped, then turned thoughtful. A rare expression for this particular Marine, who was his best friend. "Alright, I'll do it." He said, agreeing.

The com turned off, and Scott tried to get some sleep, rolling over numerous times, disturbing the Dog as he tried to battle with all the plans that were racing across his head.

Later the next day and he went aboard his new command, taking in the barely finished ship, as he walked through the still white corridors most of them, paint still needed to be added to many sections. He toured it. The command deck, the fighter bay, the med decks, the cargo hold, taking nearly 6 hours to tour the whole vessel. Passing a few working parties on his way around.

He found his way to the mess hall, as he grabbed himself a turkey sandwhich and went over to sit at one of the metal tables, painted a gunmetal black color. He ate it slowly, processing the state of his current ship. They were a bit behind schedule he noticed, that was OK though, he knew they would have it ready on launching day in two weeks.

He then went over to meet his Colonel friend, as he was about to come on board.

He did, and the Marine entered his presence, looking around most impressed with his surroundings, taking in the launch bay as if he had never actually seen one, which as it turns out "wow….this is really amazing. The first time I have ever been aboard one of these ships, the closest I came was when one visited the station that I was currently occupying." He said, then looking at his friend.

"James" He nodded and the gestured.

"Gladly sir." The Marine said leading the way.

They arrived in the briefing room fifteen minutes later, having walked there, and then going into the room that was located just behind the bridge as it was with most modern starships.

Like most of the rest of the ship, its interior was spartan, and was not decorated enough yet. Nor would it really be, it would serve a utilitarian purpose.

He sat at the head of the table closest to the door, and his first officer sat down uneasily. The realization setting in that this was the first time that he was able to do this on a naval vessel. Usually he was the commander of Marines, or on board for some special service, and not for this task. The thought had not even occurred to him, yet, that Captain's could pick their own command crews in peacetime. If they were available that was.

"Well….welcome on board Colonel." He said gesturing around.

"Thank you, it is quite….grand sir. Any business to get to today?"

"Yeah, there is still a command crew to pick for this ship, the best and the brightest out of all officers that we can attempt to find for this august mission" He smiled crookedly at his poor joke.

He then got up and got a computerized note pad that he sat down, and opened up, looking at the book like binding of the digital files, thinking of who they should go for first, which position to fill, there was just so many. And now he felt so alone trying to get this ship ready for its respective mission, and running a shake down crew.

"Engineering" He muttered as if to himself. The Colonel leaned in philosophically, trying his best to pick up on the thought processes of his friend, and now commanding officer, despite him being four years the senior of the man sitting across from him.

"Uh sir, are you going to let me in this, or am I just going to be here and watch and observe."

"Oh, sorry James." The Captain said with a regretful smile and look at his friend. "Want some coffee or something?"

"Sure, black if you got it" The Colonel said gratefully leaning back in his chair as he stretched out waiting for Patterson to hunt down a metal pot of that steaming liquid.

"So…how are Molly and the grandkids?" He asked pouring it into a cup as he found what he was looking for from somewhere behind the old warrior Marine.

"Fine thank you." He said as he took the proffered mug. "And they are wonderful, Sarah is now one year old. Already she is showing signs of military greatness. Apparently she ordered a mail man off of her property when he showed up at the wrong time."

"She can talk?"

"Oh hell no, just squawked at the guy, and pounded her little foot into the carpet until he left."

"And he did?"

"Most assuredly." He chuckled. The continued on, "and, what about the work?"

"Yes. Right we should find an engineer."

He smiled "And I have no idea where to start….you sure you want me around for this?"

Scott nodded "Yes. Yes I do." Then when no response was forthcoming "I want a solid disciplinarian, someone who can put the crew to work. And a grumpy old war horse like yourself is exactly what I need."

The Marine chuckled gruffly. "OK then, besides I can put the Marines through a rather ingenious training regime."

"See, better and better." He said flipping back to his page. "not a lot of engineers are available at the moment I see." He absentmindedly started to tug on his chin as he began to scroll through the list of names. "Hmmmmmmm…Stacia Clarke. Hyperspace repair expert. Did a stint on the _Warlock_ way back five years ago. Says here that she knows our systems quite inside and out."

"Sounds like the perfect girl"

"Small boned, small in general, five foot five even, but she can get into any of the crawl space, and is up to date on the most modern of technologies."

"Sign her up then"

"Indeed, I think that would be most appropriate." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "A good Nav officer would be next."

"No, not neccessarilly, I always find that it is best to have several nav officers that can run the department, a few good ones that are pretty much equal with no real superior. Besides there are so many on the market that I would rather have them surprised." He said glancing side ways, and coming up and out of the paper, sipping at his own coffee as he did so. " A good commander of our airgroup is what we need right now." He said more to himself then anyone else around him. He began looking through his list of candidates again, his Marine friend sat back in the chair boredly. "Do not worry, you will have to train this crew into proper shape."

After several long minutes he looked up from the pad a curious expression on his face as he shoved the pad over to his friend. "Take a look at that? Thoughts"

On it was a picture of a young, unshaven face, a scraggily beard was formed all around his face, no mustache at all. He was in this late twenties, bordering on thirties, well built, and tall for a pilot at around 5'11". It said that his physical shape and piloting was excellent serving on several deep range Warlock's, Victory's, and Nike's, having combat experience against the Hand, and participated in the botched first contact Coleman affair that almost brought memories of the Minbari war.

"Says here he is a firebrand, a discontinued mal content. I do not want to lead someone like that."

"True, but it also says that he is mellow on board, and not quite as confident. Odd mix for a fighter pilot but we might need to make him that as this mission progresses. Besides, in a fighter pilot hot headedness is usually a good thing….trust me I should know." He reminded his friend with a slight smile. James just tipped his cup at Scott in acknowledgement.

"Fine"

"That is settled then."

The Captain went back to his list of officers continuing to look.

"We should probably look for the Marine next I guess?" His friend asked suddenly. Scott smiled at that looking at him stretching again slightly.

"Sure. Any ideas?"

"Not a clue" A wry smile spread slowly throughout his face. "I would not want to subject anyone to such a duty as this."

"I know that feeling. What about you personally?"

"Well…." He looked thoughtful. "I will be your XO, I should be on and aware, that will take up most of my time that I will have available to me throughout most of this commission. They deserve a good officer in over all command to lead them personally."

"OK, what I thought, but I was just making sure about that."

The Marine began looking through his own list trying to find the person that he wanted to find for over all command of one of the most vital parts of a ship, at least in his estimation. Only the techs and engineers were really more important. Not even the command staff was really as important as the Marines, as long as no one ever explained that fact to the Marines.

His finger scrolled down the rather lenghthy list, there was a lot of starship GROPOS waiting for assignment with the current configuration of the fleet. But none of them seemed to be exactly what the old war weathered marine was looking for. He looked up as he noticed Scott watching him boredly. And realized that his Captain was about as interested in ground operations as he was in the over all effects of pioloting or manuevering a starship. And for the tenth time he wondered whether his friend has made some kind of mistake. Though he did trust his new Captain's judgement. More so then he trusted his own.

His name stopped on a rather long, and intriguing name. It went by the name of Jose Kurylenko, he was of a mixed Eastern European, Columbian, almost exactly half and half if his bio was any indication. The Marine toggled the rest of the information,bringing it up along with a rather intimidating picture, of the severe looking marine Captain. The information revealed that he was in Special Forces for the longest time. A Marine recon team, that he led. Going as far as working with the Rangers on a number of missions on the edge of all known space, fighting the forces of The Hand on numerous occasions. One of the only grunts to achieve that. Him and his 12 man team.

He showed the information to Scott, who nodded his consent and agreed. Which only left only one major position to be filled. The chief of the medical staff. Always limited on all of Earth's Advanced Destroyers.

This position was filled by an aging man on the cusp of his 60s, white hair, balding in places, tall and lanky from working in the field for so many years. His work went as far back as the war between the Centauri and the Narn, and the brief relief missions that Earth sent deep into occupied space. He was just a young and eager LT. at that point. Now he had a full qualification as a Naval reservist with the equivalent rank of only a Lt. Cmdr, able to be activated at any notice. His name was Stewart Albright.

The senior staff was picked, and now was the time to finish getting the ship ready for commissioning.

Two weeks later Scott Patterson was standing on the observation deck of the Earth Alliance Destroyer _Gandalf_. As she was now ready for flight, everything on board her was finished. His hands were folded behind his back as he watched the shuttle dock with his doctor on board, his engineer, and some last minute support personnel. The rest of the crew would arrive slowly over the next three days. Ending with the pilots and the fighter squadrons.

A slight boom sounded in the bowels of the 2 decks below, as the shuttle docked and pressurized the seal. Scott unclenched his hands, adjusted his uniform, and then headed on down to the main shuttle bay.

He found a surprise down there, not only was all of the rest of his crew that he was expecting, but also his official CAG, Michael Keegan.

Stacia was looking around with a curious awestruck smile spread across her face, glancing around eagerly at the flight deck as she came up to her captain, finally approaching her captain, then after several seconds finally noticing him.

She straightened up despite her bag and tried to shoot off a salute, doing a rather sloppy job at it. "Permission for me and my crew to come aboard sir." She said softly.

"Permission granted Lt. Cmdr. Welcome aboard." He said returning the salute perfectly before lowering it and offering his hand, which she accepted quickly and eagerly.

Keegan gave him a disciplined but laid back salute, and the doctor did not bother, which Scott could not blame him for being recalled to active duty, and not really being apart of the military in the first place.

They stepped out into the painted and clean corridor. "Well, welcome again." The Captain said presently.

"Thank you sir, been looking forward to his assignment for the longest time now, trying to get onto many a ship in my time to do this, despite my qualifications." She said glancing sideways, keeping both the captain and the corridor in perfect alignment.

They arrived in the engine room, her eyes lit on her engine and she smiled giddily. "Welcome to your room." He said, as he smiled too to her obvious reactions of pleasure.

They then went down to the med deck, and the doctor checked out his digs as well. As they were…spartan. As the Doctor grumbled about the general misapportionment of the universe.

That just left the captain and the pilot.

"Sir?"

"Yes Lieutenant?" and as the man obviously was not going to continue the Captain decided to ask, while gesturing for them to continue. "What are you doing aboard ship, you are not due for another two days?"

He leaned forward in acknowledgement. "I usually like to get a feel for exactly what I have to work with, and this is it. What exactly, before anything else gets here, to try and see exactly how fighter operations work"

"Ah. That is excellent then. Good show of initiative."

"I know. I am worried though that with me being only a LT, and a CAG, that it is going to be difficult performing my current duty assignment."

"I have confidence."

"Yes sir. As do I. In the cockpit, but here, this is new for me….and to be honest sir, I am not sure I am ready."

"Well, there is a first time for everything. Besides your flying days will not last much longer."

"I know that sir."

"I am sure you will get used to it, I know I did back when I was on the _Victoria_ back a few years ago."

With that the two separated.

At the end of their preparations the ship was getting ready to depart, the crew was now fully on board. And as with all of the activities for getting the ship ready was causing a hub bub, and bustle of activity as the crew made the ship ready.

Scott Patterson was marching down, hands clasped behind his back, looking straight ahead. He turned left into the engine room, and but twenty five people were present, all getting the ship ready here as well, the most that would ever be here at one time, hopefully.

He paused briefly admiring his crew working on all of the tasks that they were currently assigned to, before moving through the bustle to look for his chief engineer.

He found her on a scoot board underneath one of the main parts of the engine, with only her midriff and legs sticking out as the rest of her was obscured. He could however hear the whirring of a laser torch, and other mechanical parts as she ran her diagnostic.

She finally got up and out of her cubby and jolted up agilely and gracefully, but almost was knocked down again as she started in surprise at her Captain standing over her. She snapped to rigid attention, but did not salute as her hands were covered in grease colored gloves. Her hair, though in a bun, was a blackened mess, and a smear ran across her left hand cheek. She smiled at Captain Patterson giddily.

"At ease Commander."

"Thank you sir." She said and softened perceptibly.

"Just coming on to check and make sure that we will still be ready and waiting on schedule"

"Oh we are going to beat that sir, by a good half an hour. We are even about ready to bring the main reactors online"

"Very good, thank you."

He left the room not having time to stay and chat as he had to make sure of everything else, the responsibilities of those under his command. He bumped into a female crewman who was carrying a computer pad on her own way.

He entered the lift car on his way to the next destination on the other side of the ship toward the front.

He arrived at his destination and stepped off, walking another four meters and turning right as he entered the spartan room that he was looking for. He watched again, looking around, finding his CAG at the front bay window, hunched over a small console as Starfurries began to arrive. Those new fighters that Earth just created virtually last year, now in full-scale production, though that was relatively minor considering their cost. He knew next to nothing about the new bird.

Lt. Keegan chose that moment to turn around and stretch as he noticed his Captain watching him. He stiffened, but not quite in attention, as his eyes looked a little weary. But it passed within moments as he saluted. "Sir, this is the last batch sir. We will be ready on time."

Scott stiffened as that, a simple thank you would have been more then necessary, but with his checks made and things running so completely smooth, he had no where else to go. And it was quite obvious the pilot was bored as well.

The CAG seemed to notice this and brought up a slightly wry smile. "Sir, if you may follow me I think a fighter pilot like your self would want to see this." He gestured at the door on the other end of the bay, that led down to the fighter hangars and maintenance areas below, also was a rather round about way of getting to the hardened armory.

He nodded slightly and followed his officer.

They got down to the lower area, and sitting at the other end was one of the new fighters. The SA-42A Raptor. Designed as with all main fighters by a large group of companies. "Lightning bird" was emblazoned across the main fuselage. "That is my call sign." Keegan said following the gaze of his commanding officer.

He then went over and started moving his hand appreciatively over the smooth mottled hull of the new fighter, modeled on the same pattern, and in the same color scheme, as the White Stars, and Minbari Niahls.

"The Raptor. The latest in a long line of proud warriors, stretching back to the begginings of our fighter program. The latest incarnation of technology, and the melding of the Aurora, its replacement." There was a twinkle in his eye as he relayed the specs, looking completely content as to what others might consider a very boring recitation of basic facts. "It has twelve missile ports mounted in internal bays right by the thruster assemblies, and two high yield pulse cannons that can fire in single shot, or multiple bursts. It is capable with tangoing with any fighter that is in the galaxy. That is with its maneuverability, and with the acquisition of that stealth technology by the Earth Force, and the addition of some of our own stealth features makes her hard to detect by many races except for the Minbari."

Captain Patterson looked at the fighter anew, genuinely impressed now by the new ship that was virtually still an experimental design. He whistled appreciatively, he joined his CAG over by the ship and also began to stroke the fine textured and smooth feeling vessel. This war fighter in the long and proud line.

Later that same afternoon, night actually, the ship was calm, and reserved, the stations were manned by reflective members of her crew. As she was finally about to launch on her first assignment, General Baker gave him that just ten minutes earlier, patrol along the ISA Centauri border. Things were getting a bit tense, particularly between the Narns and the Centauri, and it was hoped that the appearance of a Warlock ship, and several White Stars, might show Earth's unanimous support for either side, officially any way.

Captain Patterson sat down in his chair and wiggled in it, nothing like the first time of his career that he got to do this in this way. He twisted in it observing each and every station, making sure everything was in perfect order before setting off. And he did not see a signal problem.

'All crew compartments are showing green and ready for launch Captain, sickbay just checked in and they confirm that they are a go." His Com officer said right behind him.

He hit a switch on his chair. "Engineering, this is the bridge, we are ready and available, stand by to ignite the reactors."

"Aye aye Captain." She said evenly over the intercom, revealing herself to be as excited as any of the rest of the crew, but trying to keep it in.

"Mark" He said, he then heard the light hum through the ship as it began to pulsate with a newly found energy.

"Get me the dock master general of this facility," he ordered twisting around in his seat and facing the com officer, she nodded to him. "This is the _Gandalf_ to docking station three, we are prepped and ready for launch, do we proceed?"

"Affirmative, good luck and good hunting ship." The line clicked off.

"Helm, bring the three main engines on line on the top for a full one third."

"Aye."

"Navigation, plot a course to the Io jump gate, then lay in a course for the main patrol area."

"Yes sir."

The ship left its moorings and proceeded quickly into deep space, its main engine then fired and she accelerated nimbly into the deep dark black of space, heading deeper and deeper within the passing seconds. Heading into an unknown, and surprising future.

Disclaimer and Authors notes: All technical descriptions are provided for by , a B5 technical site. The Raptors are my own invention and creation. This is based on Babylon 5 as created by JMS.


	3. The Beginning of a New History

The EAS Gandalf went gliding by in hyper space on its way to its designated patrol area. Right in the ether/buffer region that existed in between the two interstellar empires.

They were there to simply keep an eye on things, in the event of war.

Jose was standing in the observation room on board the _Gandalf_ hands crossed behind his back as he studied the swirl of the hyper space that was around the ship. He felt peaceful, yet oddly tense at the same time, watching the swirling of the hyper space cloud in front of him. It was as if the peace that he enjoyed made him tense, and antsy, waiting for something to do, something to happen. Every muscle in his taught athletic frame was ready and pulsating to go into action at a second's notice. But, with Earth at such peace, he was likely not to get that any time soon.

He sighed, he wondered these days why he kept on signing up for these missions, or why he even bothered joining in the first place. He just missed the absolute end of the Drakh war, and the singing of peace between the major powers. Reaffirming their commitment to a long and peaceful future, and with pirates, the Hand, and who knew what else was out there, Earth would be busy being the guardians of that peace.

No such luck. The Hand disappeared, the Drakh were neutralized and became thieves on the outer quadrants, being hunted by Nike class Battlecruisers, and their Centauri counterparts.

So this was not one of these missions, another waste of a commission.

He went down to the bowels of the ship, the fighter hangar and barracks C. All the way down to the lowest level of the ship. He got there and saluted to the Marine guard who stood watch.

He entered and his crew was there. Each EAD had at least one Marine squadron on board, these days, to provide for close air support in the case of ground invasion. This was the group that was assigned to his command, the Marines. His second in command, and the CO of the Marine detachment, noticed him and jogged over and saluted rigidly.

He returned it crisply. The female marine was of an athletic build, in fact if she were taller she would be bordering on anorexia with her weightt the way it was. She was only five feet four inches tall, with auburn hair that she cut short, but kept bushy and thick. Piercing gray was the color of her eyes, showing an inquisitive personality behind them. "Sir" She greeted.

"Sergeant." He said in rough English.

"What brings you down here?"

"Boredom mostly, and the realization that I have not met my fighter crew, some of the people who we will be relying upon if we get into the thick of it."

"Ah" She said with a nod, and then slowly maneuvered him to introduce himself to the other pilots, and EWOs that sat in the back seat behind each one of the pilots in their Thunderbolt, riding into battle.

Captain Patterson, meanwhile, was sitting in his quarters having his own dinner. The ships passage was riding smoothly enough, and soon , they would be at their coordinates, and who knew what else they would have to be doing as soon as they got there. If anything at all.

He ate his meal in contemplation, wondering what the future might have held for him and his new crew. Out of all the assignments that he had ever taken on, this was the most unique. Him, being at the top like he was looking down. Trying to lead the ship to the best of his abilities. He missed not being able to fly regularly anymore. It was so much easier back in the day being CAG.

But yet, this is what he always wanted, a chance to prove himself and his mettle in the course of a command. Maybe one day make General, or higher.

He finished his meal and then went over to his desk, where he began to look through the status reports. The ship was working out nicely, it did not seem to have much of the normal wear and tear that most newer ships had, trying to work out all of their large and small problems in the course of a new adventure, and getting the ship 'broken in'. None of that, the builders of her had thus far done an excellent job with things.

That was not to say things were perfect though. They were not, several things needed to be adjusted in flight. But the engineering team was confident that they had indeed gotten everything. And the Marines were drilling, a lot, making sure to be in tiptop shape in the event of an emergency. They still needed to practice with the ship's weapons, and under combat situations, but he was confident that they would have plenty of time for that particular activity.

His command crew though, some of the best and the brightest in their fields. Soon, they would all be fighting and would be organized into an efficient and well-oiled group. He did not know how he was going to expedite the process yet, and that was his only main concern. Drilling might be one way, but that was what the entire Navy did. No, he wanted to do something else. But, that could wait too. Besides, combat was the best way of doing that, and it was unlikely they would be receiving any of that anytime soon.

He stroked his chin and realized that he would need to shave again soon, that thought usually never occurred to him.

Which brought his thoughts to another problem: With supplies, they were now so far from the regular Earth Alliance, on his training missions he was confident of resupply, but he was now going to be on the other side of the territories, without any knowledge of how long he would be staying. He really did not like the idea that he would have to rely on the Narns to maintain his position, and the Centauri were out of the question. Even though they were back to being perfect members of the ISA, some of the scars still ran deep between the two interstellar empires.

Captain Patterson sighed, and wondered again if he should not have just retired. The Force was offering less and less of the excitement that he craved with each passing year, though, his new challenges were enough to keep him busy.

He finished reading through the paperwork, and went and laid down again. Once again the thought of his personnel 'problem' occurred to him again, and he wondered about what he was going to do about it, he was not used to feeling this lost, but he was sure he would regain his confidence again.

And with that thought, he started to doze off.

In the rear engine room of the ship Lt. Cmdr Keegan was lost in thought, panicked thought, nearly so. He was marching to the actual main compartment looking for the chief engineer of the _Gandalf_.

He entered and turned left, asking a young crewman if he could find her, following her directions he found her soon enough. She was sitting in her office just off the main engine room, looking out through the window over looking the duty stations. The door was opened, so he knocked on the frame. She jolted around and gestured for him to enter.

He did so, saluting as he did, she returned it.

"What can I do for you?" She asked lazily.

"Its about CPO Anders" He said, evenly.

"What about him?"

"Well he is just not doing his job."

Stacia glared at him for a second in confusion, the young pilot gulped under her gaze. Almost entranced by her features, her expressive and puzzled eyes. Finally, she broke the silence.

"He truly is the best for his job on this level, and in this ship. If you do got a problem with him I do suggest you work it out, with him. Other then that there is nothing I can do, as for now…though I suppose I could speak to him too, see what is going on with him. If anything…if it is there, I will find it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, though Lt. have you talked to him?"

His brain had to be forced into high gear, taking a different and unexpected direction. "Sir, I have, twice in fact."

"Over this entire voyage so far?" She asked with a lopsided and knowing smile.

"Yes sir."

"Well, just try and get to know him then. Nothing wrong with that, I will see what I can do, though it is probably nothing. Now keep your Furies safe and we can keep them flying Lt." She said this with a wide grin, her eyes dancing a bit playfully.

"Yes sir" He said leaving the room with a slight bow. He closed his eyes slightly and blew out his cheeks, before continuing to march down the hall.

Colonel James Norman was standing watch as his Captain entered into the bridge. "Report" He said gently as he started to glance over the duty stations himself, smiling to see they were all manned.

"We are all on schedule, baring straight for the patrol area, ETA reads as one minute. All of the kinks have been worked out, except for those that we have to get worked out into battle, and combat systems. All systems read green for normal space jump."

The Captain smiled and nodded as he got up and sat in his chair. "Helm, prepare to jump back to normal space"

"Aye sir." The current female ensign on duty said as she poised her fingers over the flight board.

"Jump!" He ordered.

The energy surged, and then reached a quick critical point in the jump drive, spiking as the matrix formed a jump point that punched a hole through normal space and the hyper space. The _Gandalf_ transitioned through this point gracefully as ever, emerging like a big dark predator from the waves of the ocean, her sensors instantly reaching out.

"Report" Captain Patterson said.

"We have transitioned to normal space, all systems clear, speed gathering back to about twenty five percent thrust."

"Sensors read all clear, no contacts in the immediate vaccinaty. Other then the regular jump gate beacon that is about a light year out."

"Roger that." Captain Patterson said, smiling to himself in satisfaction.

He went over to his friend, "Colonel, now that we are out here it will be a perfect time to excersise the weapons systems on board this ship, test them, make sure they are all up to full specs."

"Aye aye sir."

"Including the Railguns."

"The Railguns?"

"Yes, do what ever checks and tests on all weapons systems. Let us make sure that we can fight."

"Aye aye sir." The Colonel said as he hobbled off to go bother the fire control officer, and the enlisted men that were under him.

The Captain then went to go and sat down in his chair as he observed the rest of the crew being busy with their regular activities. He felt slightly bored now, all of his crew had simple mental activities, at least, to occupy themselves. He for the moment had nothing specific, but his wandering mind might reveal something that he could do in his day to day life.

In the fighter bay, Lt. Keegan was approaching the crouched figure of the CPO that was in charge of the fighter maintenance bay. He was crouching over his tools at the foot of one of the Thunderbolts.

He froze there for a second then, never a people person, at all. He then cleared his throat at the prone figure below him. He froze for a second and then got up, slowly turned around, and faced down his superior officer with a bit of defiance in his posture, but it was subtle.

"Sir." He said evenly.

"Chief." The Lt. responded with just the right tone of voice. "Look I uh-"

"Look, I should speak first. I do not know what it often is, officers make me…uncomfortable. To say the least, it is a personailty flaw I will admit."

"Ah." Keegan tried to roll this information over in his head but could not come up with a reason. Too bad he fell asleep in his psych classes that he took as a high school student, and while in college as well.

"I will try, just sir, give me space, I will make sure your birds are up when they are needed, and I will make sure to keep my people in line too. But I need space again."

"I understand the need for that, you should be a pilot."

"Can't, eyesight issues."

"Really?"

"Yes sir, and sir, if you will pardon me I found a broken down gyro in this Thunderbolt Starfury, and it needs to be fixed if we get jumped out here."

"Sure, I will leave you to it." Keegan said as he showed himself out, and above, leaving the hangar through the main briefing room at the top of the stairs. He then decided to pay Stacia another visit down in Engineering.

The weapons test went off without a hitch, all the regular systems that needed it were completely fixed and bought up to specs, though only through the first round, the rest of them would begin momentarily. Captain Patterson also ordered a CAP and practice to be set up, which the Marine squadron on board was conducting to almost perfection as they set up practice, mock dogfights, but always kept three fighters circling the ship.

The situation had not changed since they got there, a hyper burst message from the EAS _Columbia_ through the local jump gate revealed no tension in the situation at all. Both fleets were just conducting excersises within a few light years of each other. The number of Narn/Centauri ships so close to each other without being on a joint mission though was a bit concerning. As was the continued political turmoil going on within the Republic since the new Emperor was put on the Centauri throne, who it was had surprised most people. The Centauri after all were still rebuilding from the Darque influence over the past couple of decades.

It took a while for Michael to find her, she was not in her quarters, or in engineering, and he could not use the computer to track down her location like you could in those sci fi vids that he used to like as a kid so much, boy had most of them gotten it so wrong.

He finally found her in the gym, working out. The gym was spartan in every sense of the word, almost no fixtures, and no where near as big as the gym's on any other class of Earth Alliance ship of the Warlock's relative sizes. This included the ridiculous arrangements on board a Poseidon class carrier. She got up, he went on over.

"Hello Lt. Cmdr." He greeted.

She smiled at him and shook his hand. "Hello. How did the meeting go?"

"Very well, thank you, your advice was spot on"

"Good I am glad. Wanna help me do some push ups?" She offered gesturing to the mat using her long arms to point toward it.

"No thank you." He said, his mind going into a slight panic. Which he did not show on his face. "I am still on duty on Captain Patterson has asked me to draw up drills for the fighters. Not like we are actually going to run into anything out here, but still it would be nice."

"Ah. Lt-" She said grabbing at his arm as he turned to leave. "Perhaps you can join me for dinner later, I always eat with one of the crew, and you are as good a person as any tonight."

"Yes ma'am." He thought for a second. "I would love to."

Captain Patterson was still sitting in his chair nearly half an hour later, a self satisfied smile was on his face. Everything was running so smoothly, given two months of drill and this ship would reach its fine edge, there his only task would be to make sure that they did not lose it. And things were so much simpler in the age of sail.

He was going over the results with Colonel James, and his fire control officer who were both pouring over his own notes and statistics.

"All and all I am most satisfied." Said the Colonel first.

"Yeah, me too, but this is only the beginning of the long road." The fire control officer said.

"Yeah, constant vigilance, at least for now, we still have a green crew here despite the great senior staff. For the most part though we should get our senior enlisted core up to spec first, make sure of that. The Marines need a planet to practice on the first chance they get." He went down into his own thoughts, silencing himself.

"And when will that be?"

"Who knows? The Earth Alliance wants us out here for at least two months. Until such time as either the situation on Centauri Prime normalizes, or Earth Alliance wants us to go home. Either way though, we are here for the long hall."

"Ah."

"Well, no time for practice then." The Colonel said with a bit of disappointment.

"Well, not necessarily, the Richard Colony moon is only a few light years from here, we can send shuttles in the jump gate."

"Bit impractical sir." Said the fire control officer.

"Yes, but we can work out all the nitty gritty details at a later date. Right now though, we should just use this time to investigate and do our jobs."

"Aye Sir." They both said at once.

"Well, that is it then. We have to still set up emergency triage and damage control tests, but I will speak to Lt. Cmdr. Clarke, and the Doctor at a later date and set those up, as of this moment, dismissed to you both."

All three got up and left, "Colonel, you have this watch?"

"Yes sir, good, I will relieve you at 0530, or whoever is on watch of that time."

"Lt. Walker will likely have it."

Captain Patterson glanced after the fire control officer who was mounting the lift to go down to his quarters.

"Very well." Captain Patterson said.

He was walking down the hallway, on his way the last little bit to his quarters which was just adjacent to the Bridge Deck.

"Battle Stations, battle stations, Captain Patterson to the bridge please." He looked up like a startled cat and then composed himself before trotting back into the bridge.

"Report." He said mounting his chair.

"We have received a distress call through the jump gate by the EAS _Columbia_ sir, she says that she and a Narn heavy cruiser have been jumped by a group of three Centauri Cruisers."

"Damn, order General Quarters, and set condition one throughout the rest of the ship, man the fighters and prepare to jump to the site immediately. ETA?"

"Three minutes sir."

"Alright, stand by, stand by, JUMP!"

The Gandalf transitioned into the hyper space in a quick manner, going from almost no speed to a great speed in mere seconds. Transitioning from a ship that was on its way into battle from a normalized vessel, to a dragon of fire and activity as it charged into the face of hell itself.

They arrived outside the outer part of the solar system where the skirmish was taking place, the engines were still not charged yet, which gave the chance for the crew to finish getting ready.

Michael Keegan was busy scrambling into his Raptor, after being surprised out of going to his dinner with Stacia. He now felt anxious waiting for the order to deploy into battle.

Captain Patterson barked, "Status!"

"We have arrived outside the Narn border sector, the jump engines still need a full minute to recharge, all systems are reporting ready for combat, all small craft are manned and deployed."

"Good, stand by to jump the ship two thousand kilometers out, I want a read on the situation before we head off into the battle, let us not rush in too hastily now."

"Course plotted sir." The navigator reported after his hands raced expertly across his console.

"Then make the jump back into normal space."

The Predator jumped into the fold of the wolves, it staring down the barrels of its many weapons, its scanners assessing the situation on a constant basis.

"Sir, we have arrived, scanners read three Centauri vessels, and the two allied ships." He reported before getting into the specifics. "The _Columbia_ has taken severe damage to her aft sections, some of her engines are down, and her starboard aft defenses are also off line, her E-Web system reads damaged but not off line, fighters are continuing to harass her. The Narn vessel has taken light damage but is being engaged by one Centauri vessel directly. I am reading three Centauri vessels and several fighters, two Morado class cruisers and one of their new Maximus, light damage to all three vessels."

"Tactical analysis on enemy formations." Captain Patterson ordered as he looked at the combat chart of the situations, Triangles representing enemies, and Squares representing the friendly formations.

"Sir it looks as though the Centauri are deployed in standard pincer, one of their vessels is reading moderate damage to their port side from the _Columbia's_ main battery, she is now stalking off and looking like it is going to make another run. The Maximus is showing no damage, Earth and Narn fighters are attempting to box in the Centauri vessels and support their vessels, but the Maximus and the Centauri fighters are holding them at bay, we do not seem to be on their scopes yet, or they just do not care."

"Well we will teach them" The colonel said.

"Engines ahead Full, come about to combat course, head us straight for the Maximus, but take us along the _Columbia's_ bows by 10 Kilometers, let us support them and take some of those fighters off their backs, hold our fighters in reserve, charge all weapons."

"Aye Sir" Several voices responded.

"Take us within one thousand kilometers of enemy vessel, stand by both E-Web and forward interceptors."

"Right," the fire control systems and officers were being prepped.

The Gandalf turned almost point blank at the _Columbia_, and brought itself up to speed.

It passed close by the starboard quarter of the ship, the fighters suddenly tried turning and spinning out of the way. The support cannons opened fire at almost point blank range, hitting the fighters all, the white orbs of ionic energy striking them hard as they went from the _Gandalf_ and into the fighters, clearing the space around the _Columbia_ of them. The ship she saved immediately turned its port bow to the Gandalf as it went after one of the cruisers.

The _Gandalf_ closed on the enemy battlecruiser as the latter opened fire at her maximum effective range. The _Gandalf_ interceptors fired in return, and caught the enemy fire easily, the burst after burst failed to connect with the _Gandalf's_ hull. The _Gandalf_ charged through this firestorm on its way close, the interceptors and E-Web tech was running hot as balls of energy got through and struck the _Gandalf_ amidships, but her advanced armor shook off the blasts as the ships continued to close the distance.

"Sir, we are closing, distance now one thousand five hundred kilometers, some enemy fire has gotten through our screens, causing minor damage to the frontal arc, none to weapons."

"Tactical, you may commence firing with the forward cannons, save the G.."

The Gandalf fired her four frontal cannons, the heavy energy pulses fired rapidly at the Centauri battlecruiser they struck her all along her hull, causing hull damage, damage to the fins and weapons systems lining its hull, it was a surprisingly precise strike, even given the accuracy of the Gandalf's guns. Its port engine was hit, the Centauri defenses kept a third of the pulses out as the rest of them got through, she tried to rotate to bring more of her guns to bare on the enemy charging destroyer, which only presented more of her hull to the ships fire. After nearly two minutes of straight fire the Centauri's hull was beginning to buckle, she began an emergency retreat.

"Status"

"Enemy ship is beginning her retreat, looks as though we have done massive damage to enemy systems, the Narn ship is beginning to take heavy damage though."

"Let the battlecruiser go, she is no threat to us, and bring us around on the other Morado, all ahead flank."

The Gandalf turned and virtually pounced on the enemy, firing long range pot shots at the enemy vessel, which were intercepted easily at extreme range, even though that the Centauri had transferred most of their defensive facing the Narn. Thus the Gandalf stopped firing, until they got closer. They closed the distance rapidly, without the Centauri Cruiser paying them the least bit of attention, all its offensive fire was directed to the Narn Heavy Cruiser, who was returning fire.

The Narn Cruiser was putting up a ferocious struggle against the superior Centauri force of cruisers and fighters, ion bolts were racing out to scour the hull of its opponent, as particle beams did massive damage to the enemy structure, hitting precise places on the hull. But the Centauri ship's defensive nets were holding firm, and their fighters were harassing the Narn's defenses.

Two torpedoes flung themselves at the Narn Cruiser, hitting the side of the vessel causing a hole and fire to be ripped open in it, causing a massive hull breach and a fire to spread throughout the outer part of the ship.

"Sir, the Narn Cruiser is fighting to the death, she is not retreating, and her hyper space matrix seems to be disabled, she is leaking atmosphere."

"Open fire with forward ion cannons and then standby to give out a critical strike, target weapons and defensive batteries only for now."

"Yes sir."

Captain Patterson watched as the _Gandalf's_ main Ion guns once more came online skewering the enemy hull, followed by the plasma mortars which hit the enemy cruiser causing multiple hull hits, the defensive were quite simply overwhelmed by heavy combined fire of the _Gandalf_ and the Narn vessel, but it seemed that the Narns did not have the power to finish her, the _Gandalf_ did.

The two G.O.D. powered up slowly, brought to life by the sudden commands and transfer of power for the fusion batteries that were responsible for controlling weapons. They both fired and spat out two long red flames of heavy fire power, which hit the Centauri ship along it long neck, piercing its side, causing the vessel to be sliced in two. The two parts have converted along into fire, which rapidly destroyed the entire vessel.

The Gandalf went into a holding pattern, which was a defensive position that could keep both the _Columbia_ and the Narn Cruiser under defensive fire while the _Gandalf_ responded to any new threat.

"Status."

"All systems are checking out, minor hull damage to the outer armor, no penetration, the only serious damage was a hit on our communication antennae, it will be easily repairable and the secondary array is coming up online now."

'Very Good." Captain Patterson said checking the status board, as he saw the enemy vessel that was remaining was slowly retreating away from the field of battle.

"Sir, the _Columbia_ is hailing us."

"On visual." Captain Patterson said turning back to the main status screen as he looked out over it as it shifted in its water like manner as a view of the Captain of the EAS _Columbia_ came up and on it.

"Thanks Captain, that was close timing, we were giving out, our defensive batteries were running over and hot. We have taken some pretty substantial damage, two of our hangars were destroyed when a torpedo hit that section, we are conducting what repairs we can as of the moment, but we may need to jump out of here."

"Don't mention it, any further assistance we can provide you is ours to give, we took only minor damage." He said getting up out of his chair and approaching the screen.

"That will not be necessary, just stay around and give us covering fire as we repair our jump-" the screen suddenly turned to static and the different sound of an explosion happened in the back ground off screen as the Captain had to scramble for a foot hold. Then it switched off.

"Sir, the Centauri vessel just fired an extremely focussed beam of energy at the _Columbia_."

Patterson, the Colonel and the rest of the crew looked as the beams path finished and caused mosre explosions which seperated the ship in two pieces, which slowly consumed the rest of the ship in a gaint fireball that spread out over a couple of kilometers, some small pieces of debris.

"Take us after that ship!" He ordered firmly sitting in his chair.

"Sir, it is too late, they are already jumping away." As they watched a distant flash of light consumed the battle cruiser as it made the spontaneous jump to hyper space.

"Should we pursue?" The Navigator asked.

"No, set a course for the Columbia debris field, full analysis please, lets see if there are no survivors."

When the Gandalf arrived: "Sir, I am reading no survivors other then the Furies that are out there. Also, the weapons signature of that is a Quantum discharge signature"

"What?!?"

"They do not have that technology." The Colonel supplemented.

"Well apparently they do."

"Hmm, have the science team get put together a team just to determine what happened."

The woman he was talking to nodded as she went to go and continue on her new duties.

"Sir, we are receiving a text message to the other end of the Earth Alliance, they are saying…sir, the message said that the Centauri just declared war on the entire combined forces of the ISA…but it specifies Narn and Human, and does not have any barring on any other race in the galaxy."

Captain Patterson sat down in shock, and tugged on his chin absentmindedly. He then started giving his orders as the _Gandalf_ made one more transition.


	4. Border War

Two long red heavy particle beams reached out and touched the Vorchan class cruiser hard along its neck, one hitting directly down the centerline while the other hit near the wing structure. The Centauri Cruiser with its defenses down could not hold up to the pounding and it exploded spectacularly.

Two of the newer Centauri fighters went shooting past its destroyed companion, with four Raptors in hot pursuit, with a Narn heavy fighter bringing up the rear. The Raptors spun out of the way, using their retros allowing the Narn fighter to get off two shots.

The _Gandalf_ then turned in, making its way slowly along the planetary access, conserving firepower until it could be of the greatest need to the beleaguered Narn forces. Ion CIWS weapons systems and E-Web technology provided for all the cover she needed, intercepting heavy enemy fire and allowing minimal hull damage to the Earth Alliance Destroyer.

Captain Patterson watched the display screens, safely secure and hovering around his chair, a cool pillar of strength for his entire bridge crew as he stayed locked into what was going on around him.

The Centauri had surprised this Narn farming outpost on the edge of their territory with a full attack of several combat cruisers, a pair of Primus class Battle Cruisers, and a new class of ship that the Earth Alliance had never seen before. A ship specifically designed to bring Cruiser combat with a major fighter wing. However these ships hung back and added only minimal weight to the actual battle besides launching their heavy fighter sorties.

The Narns themselves never expected, in their wildest nightmares, that the Centauri would even dare attack an out post on the other end of the border, practically away from any of their major military bases, and not a vital system at all.. As a result the system only had a few defense stations, mines, and only two light cruisers as back up. The _Gandalf_ was the only ship of force in the vicinity.

This did not seem to bother the Centauri as they tried to launch indirect attacks against her, and keep her at bay, not bothering to fight her in a duel, instead going after the civilian convoys desperately trying to flee the area. The two Narn Cruisers were in no position to help as they were being overwhelmed and stripped, as enemy cruisers and fighter wings harassed giant farming and supply ships as they attempted to make the jump to safety, most of them having to use the jump gate.

Patterson looked out over to the communications station and barked an order. "Tell Delta Squadron to pursue and tighten the noose, let us remind the Centuari that they still have to fear from our fighters for a change. Tell Charlie to escort them in, and then drive home the spike on attack runs."

Delta was the Marine Squadron of Thunderbolts, determined to the end as they were able to lock on and act as a suppression system to larger ships defensive and offensive capabilities, the brave Marines risking their life on a seeming suicide mission braving a firestorm that would rival most ships from any alien power, as they moved to strike home vast amounts of plasma and ionic energy in order to give the larger ships a fighting chance.

Michael Keegan was in his fighter, his hands on both of his control sticks as he adjusted his throttle, power, and direction deftly. He felt extremely confident and serene in the cockpit of the state of the art fighter, none of the worries that he usually presented himself with were present, he loved to fly, and to fight, getting in the thick of it with all his weapons at his disposal. He was trailing an allied friendly fighter just off its wing and about 600 meters back, following a bit too closely but not really caring as he continuously checked his sensors.

He was passing short by one of the Narn orbital granaries and civilian traffic station, that handled all of the traffic for the entire sector, as he watched in horror as two Centauri attack torpedos shot past his fighter and impacted the side of the atation, causing a massive flash and fireball that expanded and threatened to engulf his fighter in flame, as he was blinded. He had to fire and spin out of the way at full throttle as Beta-1 broke hard and nearly smashed into his fighter, he spun back toward open space continuing to look for opponents. He found a group of four being pursued by a Raptor of his own squadron as he turned to engage and cut them off.

He used his maximum ability of his fighter's stealth to his advantage as he turned to engage the enemy formation. He turned off his sensor suite and all radiating emissions and flew on computer marker, d the enhanced mark 1 eyeball, As he was able to follow the emissions of the Centauri fighters as they were radiating like mad to try and keep the pursuing Raptor in their sights so they could evade.

Tough luck.

Keegan waited until he thought the time was right for a perfect kill. He flipped a switch and all of his weapon systems turned themselves on, including his lock on sensors, that read 11 KM to target, he moved to compensate as he aligned the ion bolters to the suddenly panicked Centauri fighters. He pressed the trigger twice causing it to explode, while the Raptor in trail got two more of its own, which left one. He twisted his fighter in an upward full stopping spiral and fired again.

It hit the enemy fighter hard in its left engine causing it to spiral out of control, and then it was destroyed by a charging Narn fighter, which succeeded just before the fighter spiraled into a parked freighter right next to the station.

He continued on, fighting in mixed single engagements with fighters that dissolved into ever more complicated hairballs.

Captain Patterson had to clutch his chair as a plasma bolt hit near the bridge, causing disruptive shockwaves that ran through the fabric of the ship. He glanced over at the display screen, as he noticed the Colonel was doing the same. He manipulated the screen with his arm rest bringing up a more general view tightly focused on the jump gate, a lone Centauri Battle Cruiser had taken up position directly in front of it, boxing in the freighters leaving the system as the Narn desperately fled.

"Helm, bring us all ahead emergency flank speed, close to one thousand kilometers of the jump gate and stand by to open fire at that range, all batteries." Patterson ordered as his crew moved to comply with his orders, not so sloppy as they were, but with a lack of drill not to where they should be either.

The _Gandalf_ replied instantly to the orders as Patterson counted down the seconds and moments as the crew filed in his orders, and entered in the commands into the firing computer. Delta Squadron turned into proceed them, with Charlie Squadron right behind.

The _Gandalf_ closed menacingly on the lone battle cruiser, slowly bringing it guns to bare…as suddenly the ship's engines spiked as she made an emergency jump to the hyper space, which was rapidly followed by every ship in the region that of Centauri design.

Patterson looked at them retreating on the scopes, he had two choices, to lay in an immediate response and pursuit course and track them down futilely, or recall the fighters and see what assistance he could render. The choice was an obvious one so he recalled his fighters and gave the Narn his full cooperation, they stuck him down range and out of the way.

He decided that he was not needed at all, and made the jump to hyperspace as he felt that he could be of more use in position to intercept any coms traffic for help, or intelligence gathering. He put his communication networks on that task as the _Gandalf_ cruised about blindly in the hyperspace, set on a beacon for the Narn homeworld.

"Well, all I get to do is stand here and look pretty and bark orders." James said with a crooked grin as he stood next to his Captain as the latter mounted his chair.

"That is an impossibility my old friend." The Marine grinned ruefully out the viewing ports looking dead ahead.

"A Damage report sir." An aide said coming up to the Captain's chair.

"Minor damage again, three of our Furies were knocked out. Almost like the Centauri did not want to put up a fight, most systems are still in top shape."

James looked down. "Though it seems like one of the engines took a severe hit on the starboard quarter reducing power output slightly."

"Yeah, but it says that Commander Clarke will get the systems up and running within two hours again." Patterson said steepling his fingers contemplating the suddenly uncertain future, who knew what further adventures the _Gandalf_ and this tour might bring after all.

Michael Keegan was standing outside of his fighter stroking the smooth battle scared surface, only some of it was visible, he did not even know he had been hit. The survivability of this fighter must have been insane, to take three indirect hits in three parts and for him not to even tell. His squadron commanders were waiting for him in the main briefing room over looking the hangars.

He entered with a nervous glance around the room, trying to compose himself for the task that was ahead. "Good job, keep it up, and we will make it through this alive. Have all your reports be filed to the chief of fighter operations, have any sick or wounded report to the medical bays."

He then left with a nod, no doubt his pilots would have preferred a longer and more awe-inspiring speech from their commanding officer, but he was not inclined to give it. Preferring to keep social interaction to a minimum.

He headed past the corridors, nodding curtly to any of the hurried individuals that he passed. He went straight to his quarters, walked in, and shut the door, collapsing gratefully on his bed again. Then he remembered that he had something to do for himself, and got up with a rueful shake of the head as he went over to the desk to fill out the after action report. He paused as he reflected that this was the first time that he ever had to fill one of these out for a real mission. He paused again, and shook his head with a smirk on his face, about the changebillity of the universe.

Stacia Clarke was sitting all by herself in the mess, eating her messy stringy porridge like substance from the galley stores, as she was contemplating the same issues that Michael currently was. Though from a completely different angle.

The foul mood that she was in caused her to imagine, and she knew it to be false but could not help it any way, she imagined that her position was the most regulatory on the ship. That she did not get to do anything at all. Just sit back, and write paperwork as to a damage report from her subordinates, then as she was about to get to work on figuring out the tricky problem of replacing the com device, a confirmation request came down to the bridge, which forced her to put Ensign Parsons on the com array as she answered the complicated inquiry. She was then off of duty so she decided to come down to the cafeteria for some late night food.

She hoped that Michael was around, and was disturbed at the lack of his presence, after the promise he made to her, but she shook it off, she really just wanted some company, anyone at all, it did not matter, though she was hoping for him to be there. And now she just sat there, brooding in silence alone with her own thoughts about her inaction.

With her temperament most people thought she would have made a perfect fighter pilot, and in fact that was one of her initial dreams when she was a little teenaged girl, being interested of models of the Tiger, Aurora, and Badger more then her boyfriends, which annoyed them no end. She picked up many technical manuals on all sorts of ships, always trying to figure them out in a frenzied flurry of activity. But when she got to the academy, and tried out, she showed only the barest aptitude on all the latest models of Fury, only scoring Ds and Cs on them. Despite this she was current on all the current models except for the Raptor. But instead, she found a home in engineering, already having most of the basic skills down pat. Which allowed her to expand her social horizons, where she found that she could make friends easily, though they seemed to always be uncomfortable with the ghosts hanging over their heads. She then grew to need, and crave that level of companionship in all her activities, something that she desperately missed out on as a young child, and then as a teenager. A need she carried to this day.

She was an inspired and insightful worker that loved to work, and loathed idleness in herself. Always flitting from one stimulating task to another. Which was really surprising for most observers of her and her passion for engineering.

But to her it was simple: she loved the task of figuring out the most efficient way of doing something, of constantly improving her methodology, and her skills. And then finally being able to get down and dirty in the trenches and actually prove her theories, which then let her go onto greater heights and greater improvement with her systems. The EAS _Gandalf_ represented her biggest challenge to date.

With a regrettable last spoonful of this muck (not because she liked it certainly!) she pushed in her chair and exited the mess, heading down to her quarters in the mostly abandoned corridors. She headed down in sort of a dream like haze, as sleep threatened to over take her even then. Not because she had been working all day as would be usual, but because she had been doing different types of mental activities, ones that she loathed. Plus her normal need to shut down as soon as she even got a hint to herself of getting into her bunk.

Suddenly all her senses sharpened and she looked up as the warning alarms sounded throughout the ship, she heard doors open as crewmen ran to their stations. She did the same, jogging lightly.

On the bridge The Colonel mounted his station with a mumble under his breath so no one may hear, but yet Patterson seemed to as he looked over at his friend. He was mounting an unknown station, and as he studied the layout his confusion showed. It was the defense and damage control station, whose usual crewman who manned it did not show up, leaving James to gratefully sit down, but yet ruefully since he did not like to think that someone was derelict in their duties.

The _Gandalf_ was dueling with two Centauri old Primus Class Battle Cruisers, boldly drying up their resources to fight and give the besieged Narns a chance. Once again they were badly outnumbered, but they had a huge fighter base in the local sector, whose reinforcements should be arriving any moment and would almost certainly turn the tide in the battle.

The space around with the _Gandalf_ was filled with explosions of light and hurtling metal as her interceptors and CIWS systems intercepted the incoming fire from the cruisers and the fighters attempting to engage the _Gandalf_ with ease, far enough from the hull not to matter. But yet their position was tenuous, they could not move to close the distance without risk of adding onto more fire to their already burdened systems. This would not do, and could cause massive damage, nor could they retreat because then their purpose their would be done with, as they would let the cruisers escape to possibly harass the Narns.

But their two oppenents could not do either option as well, for fear that they would not be able to bring as many guns on the _Gandalf_ as they had now, thus giving them a chance to manuever and flank the Centauri. Or even worse give the Earth a shot at a potential weak spot with their fearsome G.O.D. cannons. Aptly named.

If only one Nike, or one Morado lended their support for either side would have tipped the battle perceptibly toward either opponent, as they would have been able to outflank either formation and lend their impressive firepower to the battle where it would have counted the most.

The Starfuries of Delta and Beta Squadrons made this impossible though as they kept the Centauri forces at bay, harassing them and driving them to a far corner of the battlefield, if they showed the least bit of interest in going after the Gandalf. But their targets were Morado's and any newer vessel, not the sleeker Vorchans.

The Starfuries of Alpha and Charlie Squadrons stayed close to the Narns, helping them out with extreme efficiency and elasticity, as they fought off hordes of enemy fighters, doing maneuvers that none in the known Galaxy could quite match.

But the Starfuries were desperately outnumbered, fighting odds that would have made the most experienced student of history.

They and the Narns were being dragged away by impressive will, always having to act, to spin, to dodge out of the way of incoming fire, and to respond in kind. They could not get on the offensive for a second, and thus could not choose a time and place for the battle.

And when they tried to separate themselves, the small group of Centauri fighters would rally and cut off their escape, or nearly so.

This left the Narn convoys trying to leave the area, and their orbital station in desperate straits. Auto cannons and CIWS systems trying to give some cover as they tried to maneuver away from the onslaught, they were mostly able to keep the Centauri fighters at bay, but they still took heavy hits, mainly the space station.

The battle was divided into three main sections. The Capital ship battle, with fighter support. Being waged at the outer edge of the planet's orbit, as all of the ships engaged each other in shows of force. Then sandwhiched in was the massive fighter furball as the three Navies tried to gain the upper hand. All of them unsuccessful, but desperate enough to keep the other two at bay, and kept them from deciding either battle, but chasing each other as they broke off to help the other two. And then the freighters, trapped and hemmed in by fighters, not able to really move outside the safety of the station, which would not be safe for much longer. They were afraid to move though, with the hail of fighters swimming past them. The Centauri forces were never enough to turn the tide of either of the three engagements, they were just being a nuisance, an annoyance, not doing anything except for a lot of damage, keeping the battle on a constant knifes edge.

Micael Keegan twisted his fighter around sharply just missing a speeding ball of energetic plasma as it passed by one of his engines. He flipped the switch down on his missile trigger. The system chirped excitedly as the system came to life, and chirped again as the boxes merged forming a cross airs. He slammed down on the trigger releasing a missile shooting off into the Centauri ship, blowing it to bloody rags.

He looked around through all he could see, then ran a quick check of his instruments, and what he saw shocked him a little. He was alone, the battle seemed to move on and around him, enveloping and evolving all around him, but yet he was not a part of it. He then checked his instruments again, and turned on the long-range scan, seeing that the station was in some big trouble. He then looked at his short-range scanners and found that happily Alpha five was in a position to offer some help.

"Alpha five, cover me." He ordered simply, making eye contact with the pilot, who raised his thumbs in an upright position, firing his thrusters to get into a position to help his leader.

Michael turned his head around checking one last time before maneuvering into position to make his run. "GO!" he yelled into the com device, launching his new wingman into action as he jetted away.

Alpha five fired a near constant stream of bolts in all directions that he could, not really aiming with any accuracy but just using himself to make a distraction, to get some sort of attention of inquisitive sensors. It worked.

As the fighters in Michael's way turned to engage the definite threat that they could easily see, leaving the stealthy Raptor Michael was flying in, mostly alone. He was still accelerating, firing his engines at their absolute maximum after burn, thrust strong enough to break the gravity of a good deal of planets. The Gs were thrusting him back into his seat despite the Minbari tech.

Three Centauri fighters suddenly appeared at about his six o'clock, he doubted they actually achieved target lock, but were just racing to go to their assigned targets and rain havoc on them.

He pushed his throttle down, and angled his main thrusters gently to the left, chopping off speed slightly. He then visually confirmed where they were, three rapidly growing specs. He twisted his controls around, banking his fighter into a gentle roll, and then slammed hard on his forward thrusters bringing his ship into a hard slamming stop. The fighters shot past him, as he quickly accelerated to catch back up with him.

He bought up his tactical display, switching his bolters over from the anti ship, to the anti fighter variant, and switching them to burst fire, all of this he did in a second, as the tracking reticule came up. He held his gloved thumb over the controls for an extra second, making sure that they were aligned, and then he slammed it down, sending three balls of energy across the first fighter, destroying it instantly.

He then snapped his fighter around to the right, setting up the middle of the three fighters, and the farthest ahead, trying to run, but flying in a straight line. He bought his hand down again, and the three bursts hit it all squarely in a row, turning it into a fireball that quickly enveloped all of space.

He searched for the last fighter, finding it climbing hard heading for the space station. He muttered an oath under his breath, and then snapped his fighter around bringing it into an instant stop, facing straight up, he then fired his main engines again, and rocketed toward the enemy fighter, trying to obtain radar lock with his missiles.

He found this impossible with all the debris and heat that he had around, flying through now as he passed through the two separate sections of the station. He had to slam on his thruster suite jolting his fighter end over end as one side of the station suddenly exploded, but he was clear within a second, nearly blind and feeling a little singed.

He searched again for the fighter, loosing sight of it in the explosion, and he found it, again seeming to race oblivious to what was going on around it, on a one-ship mission to fight. He rolled his fighter around almost lazily, but accelerating through the turn as he went to intercept, soon his fighter was rocketing. Again he switched on his targeting systems, and obtained the appropriate tones indicating lock on. He fired off the missile, not really expecting a good result from this range, but to his shock he got one. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as the enemy ship made to turn into the missile, moving to attack a freighter, not even bothering to try and juke the incoming warhead. It hit solidly down the Centauri's centerline, causing the fuel to ignite blasting the ship into a million odd pieces.

Captain Patterson was a stoic mass on the ship, despite the internal struggle that he was trying to maintain to try and stay calm. Trying to do his best, and succeeding, as the world around him exploded, flashing explosions of connecting balls of energy filled his forward displays. He ran his eyes over the main station and saw the status of his vessel without even having to ask, he then squinted over to tactical, and received a report from that station.

"Helm, come around slightly, keep on firing though, keep defenses up, just adjust course to let our starboard side face them full on. Tell fighters to tighten their attack and act as an extra group of interceptors or main gun suppressors, I think we need to settle in for the long hall."

Colonel James thought briefly and then nodded in agreement, that the Narns might not be coming, that the fighter base might not send out support and the vital reinforcements that they needed.

The _Gandalf_ compensated and turned gingerly, the Centauri doubled their firepower to almost the exact breaking point for them, but the defenses of the _Gandalf_, aided by the Thrunderbolt and Raptor squadrons, held firm, only taking a few hits that the armor brushed aside relatively easily.

Captain Patterson grimaced internally, it was the best of an unlimited number of bad choices. His forward interceptors were over heating, and he had to do something about it, so he decided to turn, and in fact it was only the poor tactics of the Centauri that was able to save his ship from being in a bad position. Now it was the Centauri's forward guns that were overheating rapidly, and they were losing efficiency in doing it. Soon the _Gandalf_ would be able to strike, and make a dent in the ships hull directly, and break this vicious deadlock. All Patterson had to do was wait, patiently, as he had done hundreds of times in the past.

But he did not have to wait, he looked up almost startled, a rapid grin spreading across his face as he heard the alarms, and the crewman manning the sensors simultaneously indicate: "Jump gate active!"

The Centuari repositioned their guns tracking long range, a lone Thunderbolt used that as an opportunity and rolled in hot, going across the hull of the Centauri vessel, then twisting around firing all of its weapons, firing a long stream of ions into the engines of the excited ship.

The Narns emerged from the event horizon at break neck speed, moving to join the battle in a hurry and prevent the Centauri forces from even daring to escape. The elite pilots quickly broke into three tight and well-formed groups of seventy fighters apiece, covering the distance in space quickly. One group swarmed the vessel, the other group quickly added their weight to the star fighter battle, and the final group cleared the area around the space station within seconds, then moving to fly a BARCAP incase any of the other fighters decided to get wise.

The seventy fighters going after the warship sensed that their prey was weakened and almost disabled, it was leaking plasma and ions from its ruptured main engine, forcing it to limp away, trying to desperately recall their fighters and make an emergency jump.

The Centauri were trying to cover themselves with their main defense cannons, but the Narn were just too good. Twenty of them broke off in a barrel roll, and then split off from the main group just as they were about to be wasted. They then turned rapidly and went after an old Vorchan class cruiser, overwhelming it within seconds, heavily damaging, and then destroying it with just the loss of one of their number.

They then joined back up with the main group as they made their attack runs on the Centauri warship, all weapons blazing, the light fighters providing interceptor support for the heavy fighters as the latter glided in and fired with extreme precision.

Large tears developed in the side of the enemy ship, explosions pockmarking the tell tale Centauri neck. The ship then made an emergency jump away from the area, spreading the vortex right on top of itself, forcing the Narn fighters to spin away, and several getting damaged in the process.

Patterson arched his eyebrows in mute amazement, quickly regaining his composure though. The Centauri left a sizable portion of their fighters behind. Those same fighters froze for a second, many of them, and then suddenly turned and faced the _Gandalf_ boldly, not even bothering to surrender in the slightest. The Narns moved quickly to intercept. They came at them in three directions, furiously locking on, the group of 58, the original group that engaged the fighters, and 20 from the space station.

The Furies wisely maneuvered out of the way, giving the Narn the perfect alignment to fire everything they had all at once into the pack of tightly grouped fighters.

Patterson once more marveled at the simplicity, and ability to organize of the Narn pilots. He kept his face passive as he contemplated the efficiency of the wolf pack.

Colonel James deftly ordered the CIWS cannons, and the main ion bolters to turn toward the enemy, incase the Narns missed any.

They didn't.

In a solid move at a distance of 5 Km the Narn formation tore their opponents to shreds, wiping the group of nearly 53 enemy fighters out within 22 seconds, it was an amazing sight.

Captain Patterson collapsed backwards into his chair, rubbing his hands over his old and worn face. He was getting too old for this, at which point he reflected on the absurdity of that statement.

He looked around the bridge, and ordered a jump to hyperspace as soon as the Furies were back on board, the damage relayed, and the totals taken in.

This was completed slowly over the next half-hour, then the _Gandalf_ made the jump to hyperspace. Captain Patterson relieved himself on the bridge, putting a young Junior Lt in temporary command as he headed over to the briefing room, contemplating what his ship just went though. Deeply contemplative on everything that just happened.

He found his friend sitting there, a pot of steaming black coffee in the middle, some metal mugs waiting for them. He smiled and sat down, genuinely appreciating the commitment from his friend, who knew his Captain's habits so well.

"Well its certainly been an interesting first two week on tour." The Colonel said with a rueful chuckle.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Scott humphed at his friend grumpily, then changed his attitude as the steaming hot liquid warmed his insides, and made him feel slightly light headed. He had only gotten 5 hours of sleep in the last 30.

But his duty was far from perfect, and far from over, he still had a lot to do before he could rest again.

He tapped on the com button, bringing up the internal coms "Midshipman, bring up the reports of our recent space battle, all of them please."

He got a curt "yes sir" in response, as the data flashed on the console before him so he and his best friend could manipulate the controls, and bring up the data that they needed.

He selected a data option finally, and watched the screen flash, indicating that he was getting what he wanted to see. His expert eye watched over the data quickly, analyzing, operating, and drawing the appropriate conclusions from the data on it. His friend looking a little more confused, but still able to follow along with the action easily enough.

He observed how the ship handled up to its first real firefight, its first real battle. The _Gandalf_ herself actually performed above his expectations, given that they still needed to break the ship in. However, the crew was performing no where near their peak. They would have to correct this error soon, or they would risk dying in the attempt.

He looked over at his second in command who was obviously drawing the same conclusions, which brought a passive look to both of their faces. They knew that they would have limited time to drill in order to perfect their performance, and in the middle of a war, and they were on the frontlines of that same war. A terrible time to experiment, Patterson frowned at the thought, not liking to work under that specific type of pressure, as he took another sip of his coffee, pondering what he should do.

He knew what his duty entailed of him, and knew what to do in the thick of it, but he was not in the thick of it right now. He had to get ready for the thick of it with a limited number of resources, the only Earth ship of any force around for light years, though that would soon change. He knew what he had to do, but not exactly how to go about doing it, it presented an interesting tactical problem, and the only thing causing the slightest hesitation was the worry. If he did not do this right, then he could lose the lives of so many. His ship was undertrained, and he had only a matter of days to rectify that situation, but if he did it wrongly, then the ship would not function, which would be worse then their current state. If he only had the time, of course he would know about how to go about doing it. But he did not, so he had to act decisively.

With a snap of the wrists he went back onto even more data, this time from his fighters perspective, the one place that he would know what he would need to do. His fighters he found were perfect, and he could tell that even James was impressed, which he iterated:

"Impressive group of pilots we have don't we?"

"Yes, Michael already has done a fine job with them. Even through this early part of the war. And Lt. Cmdr. Clarke is doing a terrific job in engineering, getting it all squared away…despite her protests of not really being able to fix anything"

James chuckled, "Yeah, that sounds like her from what I have known of her so far.

Patterson let out a sigh, he knew that he could be honest here, did not have to show off in front of his crew here, and least of all to this man. "That is the other thing, this crew has not gotten a chance to really work together yet, everything and everyone is really so unknown, so new. We have not had the time to build up a level of trust yet worthy of a fighting vessel….and we have already lost people."

"Yeah, but we are already forming bonds. In combat." James did not bother to continue knowing that Scott got the message fully. "In fact, our pilots out there are probably the closest nit group in the entire fleet right now, having ridden into the fire so much, more so then any ship has yet to. Spilling their blood for each other, and for those around them."

Scott Patterson looked grave at those words, and then set his jaw in a determined look. "Start organizing more drills, lets give each shift the proper run around the block."

James nodded at his orders, and then made to move off to the bridge to execute them. Leaving Captain Patterson alone with his diverse thoughts.

Streams of light raced across the sky, scouring ships and hulls, as plasma and ionic bolts of energy traveled between the massed two fleets. Captain Patterson was watching this from his command chair onboard his ship. The Centauri had finally mounted an attack of a Narn colony en masse against the Alliance fleet. Mostly Narn vessels were opposing them, at this strategic trade junction between the Centauri, the Narn, and the Earth Alliance, and beyond. The first real strategic target that made a whole deal of sense, if the Narn were cut off here, they would be nearly cut off from most of the rest of the Galaxy, having to go around.

Of course the _Gandalf_ was by no means alone this time in helping out the Narns. They had twenty Narn warships here, lead by a couple of Dreadnaughts. Then the Earth Alliance had sent along a Nike class Battlecruiser, and an Epsilon Omega Class Advanced Destroyer, along with an escort wing of three Lupo Frigates on lone from a local defense force. Then the Minbari had a force their of one old time Sharlin class Warcruiser, and one Valen class Destroyer, the Drazi contributed fifteen gunboats to the colonies defense. The Rangers had 15 Whitestar class ships dodging in and out of the enemy fire. The Drazi forces were arrayed in a barrier formation over looking the planet, keeping the Centauri fleet away for a short time, and preventing them from bombing the planet to dust.

Fighters raced on in a flurry of activity, trying desperately to stay on top of an ever-evolving tactical situation, as the combined forces were still badly outnumbered. The Fighters received calls for help, and requests for new targets on almost a constant basis, it was hard for the pilots to concentrate on fighting with all that going on.

The _Gandalf_ fighter wings were engaged in diverse missions. Alpha squadron was harassing enemy escort ships and drop ships, Beta was in support. Charlie was defending the ships from Centauri fighter, and Delta was harassing Centauri picket cruisers, trying to shred the Centauri defenses and get the Earth and Narn capitol ships in range in order to make a dent in their formations. They were escorted in by two squadrons of Viper class Starfuries, one of Aurora, and about 50 Narn fighters, along with all of the available Whitestars.

The Colonel and the Captain were busy assessing the combat situation, trying not to get swept up in events, and not lose sight of the combat objectives, thus getting overwhelmed. But it was hard, the CIWS systems were constantly firing at targets, of any and all sorts, trying to keep them at bay, and barely succeeding. Sacrificing armor hits from light plasma and ions in order to hit the heavy bolts that were incoming.

Captain Patterson calmly watched as an Centauri Cruiser was hulled by the powerful ordinances onboard the Omega as it was hit amidships, causing secondary explosions to race along the hull, causing it to be torn apart from the inside out.

"Another small drop in the bucket" Colonel James muttered bitterly to where only his Captain standing next to him could hear.

"Yes, let us start thinning them out, we need to look for weaknesses." Patterson said still calmly, but with determination clouding his voice and making it rise above a whisper.

He then realized that looking out the screen would have been rather useless, and took a good long glare at the tactical sensor display. This was an utter mess. He shook his head, "tactical, isolate only enemy and friendly capital ships on screens."

The tactician did not respond as the display changed to represent all the enemy forces arrayed in a wedge style formation. "Now bring up only their escort cruisers." The display changed yet again, and showed the difference between a box and a wall formation of picket cruisers, and lighter, escorting the Centauri forces as they were moving to rake the orbital defense platforms. It was then that he noticed a bit of a weakness in the Centauris' lines, a single cruiser toward the back of the formation that was out and isolated, and being harassed by one of the Starfury squadrons. He assumed the reason for this was because another escort ships was destroyed, or forced to bail out, making this one out there and vulnerable. The Captain of the ship obviously knew what he was doing, so did Patterson though.

"Helm new course, 1-41 Mark 3-2, navigation lay in a reciprocal heading for the Cruiser marked J-31, all forward batteries stand by to fire when we are within range"

"Aye sir," his people manning their stations responded.

James looked at him wearily and then at the tactical display, fortunately the officer manning that station beat him to the point that he was going to make. "Sir, we are really going to have to thread the needle on this one. We are going to be within range of a lot of enemy fighters before we even get close, and then we will be in a crossfire from long range Centauri projectors."

"Aye sir." The Colonel supplemented.

"I know that, but we can do this, all we need is to coordinate our activities. Colonel, you and I will each take part of the defensive networks, tactical, I want you to be specifically on the fighters, let us drag them in, communications, recall Charlie Squadron to lead us into the target."

His officers nodded and then they got to work.

The _Gandalf_ turned rapidly to starboard, bringing its bow directly along the parallel of the Centauri formation. This happened just as Charlie squadron rotated, and spun in in perfect cover, leading the Destroyer in hard.

Centauri fighters spun in hard to engage the _Gandalf_ as the starfuries moved in to intercept them, knowing that by no means would they be able to get even a fraction of them.

CIWS fire swept the forward quadrants of enemy fire, blue and white bolts hitting numerous fighters, as they were being directed by the bridge.

"Alpha gunners, clear sector 2-1 of incoming enemy fighters, hold fire until they are the optimal range of 1-5 kilometers." Captain Patterson said.

"Shoot down fighters approaching from Starbaord bow, then switch over to attack long range fighters baring in on us in the starboard stern quarter." Colonel James ordered sternly, the CIWS controller's switched over and swept enemy space clear of most of the fighters.

"Charlie squad, form up and take out any survivors." Tactical said into his com unit.

"Yes sir, Charlies 4-7 moving to engage" the leader of the squadron said into the mike.

Patterson ran his eyes over the displays again, checking to see their status, they were beginning to approach the line of ships.

They came up fast on the line of enemy ships, four of them about opened fighter on the approaching EAD, sending bolts of yellow plasma flinging at the port side of the _Gandalf_. Her CIWS cannons raged in full fire at the incoming bolts of fire, adding on to it were some of the main guns on the _Gandalf, _trying to shoot down all the incoming globes of energy before they hit the ship's hull.

But some of them leaked through the impressive wall of counter fire that the Earth Alliance ship was putting up, hitting the hull, and exploding on contact, causing pieces of armor to break away, to shatter, and to be vaporized.

Each hit caused a massive tremor to rattle through the bones and tendrils of the ship, not even the E-Web being able to keep out the massive amounts of punishment that the ship was being subjected to.

But still the ship moved defiantly through the barrage, soaking up the damage that it could, and firing back nearly as good as it was getting. White light filled space shooting out of the _Gandalf_, causing explosions of light in between the two groups of opponents, even as close to the _Gandalf, _as five meters, it was almost blinding trying to keep track of the crisscrossing beams of energy, and then seeing them explode.

One of the Centauri Vorchan class cruisers was coming into range of the _Gandalf. _ All of her weapons were firing in a constant stream at the Earth Force Ship, and her defenses were trying to chase away the combined fighter forces that were harassing her flanks. The _Gandalf_ responded by redirecting 5 of her ion cannons at the enemy vessel, and then they fired in one constant stream, ripping through space and hurling at the weakened war cruiser.

The energy caught them, racing up hard along the spine of the vessel, explosions rippling all across her hull, causing secondary explosions deep inside her, then racing up her top most wing. She nearly lost attitude control, but was able to right herself as she began the long process of trying to withdraw.

The _Gandalf_ swooped down on their pray, at maximum speed, coming in hot, still firing last bits of energy at some of the last cruisers trying to hit her, the moment of truth was at hand.

Their weapons charged and fired, sweeping away the weakened defenses, and then both of their main cannons fired the two long red beams of fire. Burning the ship from stem to stern, killing them, and causing the ship to keel over then explode.

As if a G'Kar class Dreadnaught was waiting for it, it sprung into action, firing three long beams of energy at a Maximus, and then hitting it with the Narn version of the GODs, hitting the ship right by the engine section, and then drilling a hole all the way to its center, tearing the ships inards out and leaving it a lifeless hulk.

Fighters and cruisers and whitestars headed for the breach in the lines with all due diligence, tearing into the formation of capitol ships and forcing them to divert power away from critical systems, and to move away from the planet or risk being destroyed.

The firestorm was intense as both forces contributed into an almost MAD maneuver, ship after ship exploded in the night, or were forced to retreat with extreme damage, their hulls and crews gutted. Escape pods tried to flee the area but most were shot down by fighters, thinking that they were missiles instead.

Finally the Sharlan came to bear on the enemy formation, blowing ship after ship up, causing extreme damages to the defenses of the much newer and more 'advanced' Centauri vessels. But then the fleet moved away, up and beyond the formation of fighters.

The Nike Cruiser was bearing down on the Centauri formation, unopposed now. She loaded in six missiles into her launch tubes, and then when the area cleared, she fired. They immediately moved in and amongst the tightly packed ships, and then exploded, tearing ships hulls apart, destroying them or disabling many of them instantly. The rest were quick to surrender, the battle was over.

Captain Patterson sighed wearily and slumped back into his chair, not caring any longer that the battle was over. The fighters were recalled by the flight officer, and he could let his expert crew deal with the last few maneuvers on their own. He could deal with the damage later. Now that the battle was over, he shed the skin of professional duty for only a few seconds that he could, letting the combined weariness of the last couple of weeks sink into his bones.

His crew did not seem to mind, despite the blatant unfairness of it all. They should raise a fit, he could rest and yet they still had to go on? It did not sit right with him, and bothered him. But the fact remained that there was little he could do before status reports arrived on his deck and he could go back to his quarters and get some well deserved rest, letting the next shift take over.

These came in over the next several minutes, then waiting ten minutes to ensure that no Centauri were coming in, he headed off to his bunk. Apparently most of the command crew decided the same thing, cause the repairs did not begin until the next day.


	5. The Rage of the Furries

Stacia Clarke was working on the main engine, underneath it rather. With one hand gripping a grease filled cloth, and the other gripping a wrench that she was using to tighten one of the bolts on the panel guarding the internal circuitry, beads of sweat were drenching her forehead as she continued her work. Though she was loving every single minute, getting the ship prepared again after the last little bit of combat, and working on the few major repairs that needed doing. But she was beginning to tire.

She was just finishing up, when she heard a nervous voice speak "Stacia?" She wiggled out of the under space below the engine and looked up to see Michael standing over the railing looking down into the engine pit.

He was carrying a white paper bag, folded, in his left hand, hanging it down just above his knee, holding it loosely.

"Hello," she greeted wearily, after putting in long hours making sure that the ship was in top shape since they withdrew back off the main lines a little bit.

He raised the lunch bag a little. "Thought that you might be hungry."

"Starved," She smiled tiredly. "Thanks."

"Sure, don't mention it". He said quietly, looking almost out of his element being down here.

She sat down on the first rung on the ladder and took the bag, delving into it seeing some fries along with a sandwhich from the galley stores. She looked at it blearily, and ate it quickly, filling her up just enough, she then looked up and noticed that Michael was standing back and aloof. "Did you bring anything?" She asked after taking a gulp.

"Uh…no, I did not. Just thought that you might be hungry after all the work you and your teams have done shoring up the damage that we have taken this last little while."

"Thanks" She smiled at him.

He started to back up with a slight inclining bow in her general direction. "Well, I am actually still on duty, I wanted to take care of a few things before I headed off….bye"

She nodded in his direction as he left, contemplating life as usual.

Captain Patterson was sitting by himself in the pilots briefing room. He was watching gun camera footage from the pitched Starfury battles that his pilots were engaging in since the start of the war, the intense, and the mundane, dogfights that his pilots had to put themselves through on a number of occasions since. Spilling their blood for their ship.

He then heard the door leading into it snap open, and did not even have to turn his head to know who was there. As he watched a Starfurry fired a spread into an fighter that crossed its path, destroying that fighter, as the Raptor had to rapidly turn looking for more targets.

Lt. Keegan came up to him brusquely and saluted, keeping a stiff posture as he stood over his Captain. Patterson returned it and gestured for the young lieutenant to sit down. He did so immediately.

The reel switched again, this time to Alpha six, who was flying just above the last fighter, circling the hairball that they were fighting over.

Lt. Keegan leaned forward in his seat, just bringing him slightly over Patterson's left shoulder, his eyes were scanning the screen intently. His eyes were taking in every movement, and every fine nuance that was going on before him, this was obviously his first time looking at this footage.

Captain Patterson stretched also looking at the screen, locking onto the same view infront of him that his CAG was viewing. Trying to see what the lieutenant was seeing, who that latter was obviously intrigued by something.

But he suddenly asked, "You were a fighter pilot at one time weren't you sir?"

Patterson had to switch gears in his mind, almost shaking his head visibly. "That is correct, back during the Draque conflict of a couple decades ago."

"I see, the last major war…." He had to look at the screen again, "well until this one broke out."

"Yeah." Patterson said thinking that the CAG was just making polite conversation, but he knew that the young officer was a bit nervous sitting here.

But suddenly he brought up what ever was on his mind. "The Centauri have just bugged the hell out of me since they engaged this war, they are not fighting properly at all."

Patterson blinked visibly for a second before turning to regard the man behind him.

Keegan barreled ahead. "What I mean to say sir, is they are completely backward." He scratched his head for a moment trying to organize what he was saying, "now obviously I am no tactician…. but from a tactical personal standpoint, nothing they have done as we have fought them has made the least bit of sense." He paused again.

"Go on" Patterson bade, which seemed to get his officer's brain moving a slight bit faster.

"What I mean to say is that they are fighting holding actions, just sending in enough forces to keep us at bay, and then drawing us away, while the rest of their ships continue to go after what is primary targets, but by the time we realize this, it is too late and we are already in the dogfight to turn and engage the leakers." He paused again specifically to think of exact terminology. "Its almost like they are relying on terror tactics, more concerned with doing damage to infrastructure, and killing of civilians and terrorizing them then defeating us. Just keeping us off their backs long enough to do the jobs that they set out to do. Not trying to achieve any real objective."

Patterson thought it over, mulling it around in his head. It certainly bared consideration, he decided, and he would let more detailed analyses of the tactics being employed by the Centauri through his tacticians onboard and see what they came up with.

"And another thing, some of the Centauri, especially in that second group were fighting…oddly…automatically." He waved his hands vaguely in front of him going on to explaun, "I shot a missile at one, it did not even try to evade, it was destroyed. And several of my pilots have reported similar occurrences."

"Interesting" Patterson plucked at his chin in thought. And then plowed on with his contribution. "Hell, nothing the Centauri has done throughout the war has not made a whole good deal of sense too me. Their war effort has seemed misdirected, and that being at Narn targets all along the border region, and in some cases as far back as twenty light years, seemingly to dispatch raiding parties. But now there are fierce battles being raged all across the boarder, the Centauri has come in with a massive numerical superiority, one that the Alliance did not even dream that they had, at all. And yet they threw a lot of their forces away by attacking civilian targets with the scantest of forces. Just doing enough to, as you say, do damage, and do it well, but then jump out toward the edge of the system and flee."

"How are the Narn doing?" Keeegan asked, now slightly concerned.

"With the arrival with IAS forces, led by the EA fifth fleet. They seem to be holding their own, but both sides are beginning to take some heavy losses, it is rumored that the Centauri have started setting up listening posts on moons within Narn systems, but those have so far proven to be unsubstantiated. But with only a handful of G'Kar class Dreadnaughts that have been completed to this point, the Narn are relying on Earth, Minbari, and Drazi forces. And even then we are just barely managing to hold them at bay."

"I see." Keegan said again worried.

"Still, there is no way that there strategy has made sense to this point. Even now, they can bring in the forces that if they launched a sustained campaign they could breach the boarder, and give us a run around. But with what they are doing now has caused the destruction and death of thousands on both sides, mainly on theirs though. Though they have obviously not been driven off yet…again like flying on automatic."

He switched over the view of the Galactic Sector that they were currently occupying, right in the middle of Narn controlled space, at a colony just back of the border. Along the border were racing arrows of all varying colors twisting throughout the entire area, representing fleets and battlegroups moving to desperately engage one another throughout all of local space.

"I miss the old days," Patterson started. "Of just flying around in a Starfury and not having to worry, to just go where they pointed you. And now, with this, the fog of war has descended…we just need a chance to take back, to pause, to figure out what is going on with this enemy that we are fighting. To make decisions, to analyze our options and what is going on."

"I prefer to rely on my gut sir," Michael stated with bold bravado.

Patterson grinned while facing away, "Most pilots do."

"Yeah, I just prefer it. And it is one of those things, both of us know that there is definitely something else going on here then would meet the eye, we can feel it."

"I know, I should get right back on it. Lieutenant" He said nodding. Then leaving the room, leaving Keegan alone to ponder things.

He moved to review more gun camera footage of the battles that he just fought.

Colonel James Norman was sitting alone in his room, reviewing crew summaries. Twelve people had died so far from this war, and another seven were still down with injuries.

He shoved the papers to the back of his desk, done…and bored. Usually with the Marines you at least had some tactical problem to occupy you, even when you were not really in the thick of it.

But that was not his job here.

He wondered yet again why he had even bothered with this assignment, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But now, with a war on, he should have stayed. He would have gotten some regular grunt assignment or something else.

Possibly not though given his age. He was not a kid anymore.

He sighed deeply, he really had been doing this for too long. He, who had suffered from a drug addiction, who had been in love, who had experienced more war then he would have cared to admit…and yet he was still here. Doing what he had always done.

Of course this was different, a new adventure…but he was tiring of this 'adventure' tiring of it all. But soon for him it would be over, so he supposed.

But in the mean time he still had a job that needed doing, and he seemed to be the only one on board who could do it.

He frowned then, at what that task had in store for him. The crew was still undisciplined, shoddy, and thrust into the middle of extraordinary events. Without being ready for it, and that frustrated him. Even without having to fight a war. It was his job to train them, but since the war he did not get a chance to succeed, and did not have the theoretical experience or expertise to figure it out on his own. Preferring to lead totally and completely…some might even call it micromanaging.

He chuckled internally to himself, letting it show on his face with a small grin. Of course that might have been his Captain's point, bringing him here, to teach him a lesson that his way was not the only way, or the right way…or to seak out advice.

No.

That could not have been it, it did not make sense. The only reason he was here was that Scott trusted him to get the job done, completely and totally, to get the job done. Because Scott knew that he was intelligent enough to do it…or at least he was. When he was younger it was so much easier for him to think outside his small box, now there was nothing. But he had to reattach himself to it, and get this ship the complete way to being ready.

Captain Patterson was sitting up in bed, pillows stacked behind him, perched on his knee was a modern history of Napolean, and the events leading up to his rein. He was enjoying it boredly, it was given to him by a friend four years ago and this was his first chance or inclination to read it. Being a student of military history he found this a bit boring since it dealt more with Napolean then what he did, and what his tactics and planning were. Of course he read most of that info already.

Suddenly his com system beeped at him, he looked at it curiously, feeling like grumbling…but almost compelled to answer it. He looked at it a little while longer, and then heaved himself up as he pressed the button, just as it beeped again, catching the device almost in mid beep.

"Patterson here" He said in formal dryness.

"Communications here, there is a line from the local command authority, they want to speak with you immediately."

Patterson sighed internally, despite things he still did not want to go into battle so soon, he knew that there were still things that needed fixing. "I am on my way shortly, route the communication to the briefing room, and gather Lt. Keegan and Colonel Norman."

"Yes sir." The com device turned itself off.

Patterson debated for a second whether he should just go up to the bridge as is, but he realized that it would be too big of a shock for those who were on duty at the time.

He went over to the closest, and pressed the button as it rolled open. He picked out his shirts and uniform jacket, then laid them out on the bed as he got his uniform pants. He then put on the shirt, and then the pants, picking up the jacket and rotating up to the mirror. He would let no man rush him into anything, no matter who was waiting for him. He buttoned up the jacket slowly and deliberately, still hating these same uniforms. But moving on.

He moved out into the hall, and made the long trek up to the main bridge.

Upon arrival he turned right and entered into the main briefing room, turning on the main screen, as it cleared as it established contact.

General Stewart, the 2IC in the region as far as all Alliance forces was concerned next to the Narn admiral, came on the screen.

"Scott, it is so good to actually see you again."

"Yes sir it is." He said smiling at his old friend. He was ahead of him at the academy and at flight school, leading his cadre of cadets. They were rather favorite students of one another, even though they could not show it. And now he was running his own small section of Earth Force while Scott was getting his first combat command, such was life.

"I wish we could catch up in the time we have remaining," he said shaking his mostly bald head with a crown of hair, "but I have something important to tell you." At this moment the door opened revealing his two senior officers as they came in.

"General, this is Michael Keegan and Colonel James Norman, my CAG and 2IC respectively."

The general nodded at them as they came in, "nice to meet you two."

"Yes sir." James said, Keegan nodded.

"As I was saying, Narn and Alliance intelligence…the Rangers….has been looking for a common link, something out there that will explain what the Centauri are doing, and how they are able to strike so effectively. Well the EAS _Phoenix_ may have found the answer, using deep space probes they picked up evidence of a Centauri forward command post, it will be your job to take them out when the time comes."

"Yes sir." Captain Patterson said evenly, as his mind raced down two separate paths, how to get the job done and that it really did suck.

The screen turned blank as Captain Patterson turned back to his officer regarding them curiously. "Well?"

"I would prefer to get more intelligence sir." His CAG said nervously.

"I agree, we need more information, we need to go to those coordinates and check it out ourselves."

"I could take a Raptor and take close range low level scans." Keegan volunteered.

Patterson shook his head. "No, they should have their own level of intelligence, the _Phoenix_ right now is being used as a data gatherer, they probably have a lot of data that will give us an idea with what we are dealing with. Plus we are dealing with a command post taken out of the way." He checked the coordinates sent on the sub net, "which is in the middle of an asteroid field."

Keegan arched his eyebrows. "Difficult"

Patterson sighed "Yeah, and I really do not want to risk the _Gandalf_ in the middle of that whirlwhind without getting all the repairs complete…which we need a space station for that."

"I know" Norman frowned.

"Fighter strike then?"

"Could get complicated."

Keegan raised his first confident, but yet wry, grin. "Complicated is our middle name."

"I suggest you take the T-Bolts, they have the heavier payloads and are better fighters for that sort of thing." Norman suggested, but a subtle order was made behind it.

"Their Squadron commander is down with a broken kneecap" Keegan remembered, then was internally embarrassed that he could not remember her name.

"Well then, what?" Patterson cocked an eyebrow at his young pilot.

"I could lead the assault on the base then…assuming we learn what kind of base it is."

Patterson's natural leadership and decisiveness clicked in, as he set his face in stone and nodded. "Right, we must get that information. I will get on it, meanwhile you will draw up a battle plan for the fighter wing in order to take that base out, this is of the outmost importance, hopefully we can deal the Centauri a critical blow."

They all went their separate ways.

He stared after them and nodded silently to himself, coming up with his own plans.

Michael Keegan immediately went down to the med bay where he went down to go see the squad leader for the Marine strike force. He paused at her doorway, being stuck by the oddity of what he was about to do. But he soon got over this because it had to be done.

She looked up at him and tried to stiffen, as a wave of pain crossed over her features though.

"At ease lieutenant, how are you feeling?" he said waving her down.

"Fine sir, I should be back up on my feet in about a day or two, and flight capable within another couple of days." She said.

"Right, I have something to tell you…." She looked at him quizzically, "Earth Force command has assigned us on a mission to go take out a C&C base in the middle of an asteroid field about eleven light-years from here that the Centauri has set up as a forward base of operations. Captain Patterson, myself, and Colonel Norman all agree that a fighter strike might be the best way to take this thing out."

"I see" She said inquisitively.

"They want me to lead the assault with the marine force Thunderbolts."

"I see." She said again, but this time her eyes were widening slightly.

"I am sorry." He said quietly.

She gave him an incredulous look. "Don't be, you will do fine I am sure, and you are the superior in a starfurry in almost every way." She looked thoughtful. "Just the other marines might not like this all that much, they are a proud group, but they will do their jobs."

"Right….well get better."

"I will sir."

He stalked out of the room.

Captain Patterson after a busy day running it through the combat computers, and getting the information he needed from intelligence, was sitting and analyzing the tactical reports in his quarters. He had his reading glasses on studying the reports that he so far had received, waiting for his own analysts to get done with the information and then give him a complete and total report.

After a moment it came out of the wall mounted fax as he turned to get it, putting his glasses down on the table, and briefly studying the charts, and then the conclusions on the next page. Just as this happened his first officer and his CAG walked right on into his quarters and stiffened to attention. "At ease you two." He said with a smile, it was good to see that discipline was being maintained.

"Is that it?" Keegan said curiously looking at the file of papers that his Captain had in his vice like grasp.

"Yes, it is." He said gesturing with them slightly. "It seems we have found out what our target is based on the tactical summary."

He got up and shuffled over to the main room, sitting at the seat that was adjacent his glass coffee table. He set the stack down spreading them out across the entire length and width, and then invited his officers to sit down.

Norman was mostly uncomprehending, which disturbed the Captain a bit, but he had to shake it off.

Keegan's eyes were furrowed in thought, as they were darting back and forth between the sheets, he was in his element though he did not know it, analyzing tactical reports on something that men under his command would have to deal with soon. This made Captain Patterson grateful for him, that he would take so much time to do this, and knew what to do.

Finally, after about five minutes, he looked up. "This will not be the easiest op I have ever had to plan for, even though that this technology is out of date, which could give us a leg up. If this is right we are dealing with a mobile, transportable field HQ, based on sensor reading, and com traffic coming out of there."

"Which makes the most sense with what the Centauri want to do, I suppose." Colonel Norman said after completing his look through.

Captain Patterson let his two officers have at it. But they did not want to seem to take it on anymore. "I really do not want to take the _Gandalf_ in any closer then need be and engage them, these two things" he pointed "are two heavy plasma cannons, anti ship, and we still have not repaired most of the damage to the nano armor, we only are back up to sixty percent strength."

"Then we proceed like before, use Thunderbolts to get in close, and then attack them from close range with a spread of missiles and ionic energy, really open them up."

"Yeah but those things will really hurt if they get a bead on you and actually manage to hit you." Norman said looking down at the summary.

Keegan's eyes flitted down to the blueprints of the offending station in question. "That should not be a problem, we should be able to sneak in close enough and fly in below their elevation. Then we just engage with missiles when we are close enough, and then we proceed to destroy the station. We just use jammers, and approach through the asteroid field, until we are virtually right on top of them, and their gun position means we can really circumvent them if we need to, and our maneuverability will keep us out of trouble."

Patterson nodded, drawing up the visuals to the tactical simulation in his head, what it would look like under optimal conditions as they jumped in to engage the enemy. "You should try and jump in as close to the rocks to mask yourselves as you can. And we will be close by in support if you should really need it."

"I think that is all we need, beyond just the specifics of the matter."

Norman nodded his approval.

"OK then gentlemen, I give you two hours to come up with the specifics of the battleplan, I hope it goes well."

Both of them left and filed out together. Keegan paused. "Actually before we begin there is something else that I need to get real fast, I will meet you in the main briefing room" he said

"OK" James said, even though Keegan was already rushing off in the opposite direction at a bisque pace. James shook his head.

He walked down toward the engineering deck, and turned left to go into Lieutenant Commander Clarke's office, she was there, a hand keeping up her face, drooping over some paperwork, looking completely miserable in the task. He paused for a second watching her, then he cleared his throat.

She looked up a bit, her eyes focused, and she looked surprised to see him there… he wondered why for a second, but the look on her face was causing his mind to start stiring painfully.

"Lieutenant." She said flatly.

"Commander, it is good to see you….uh…did we get any of the new D Sat 5s in storage when we left."

She thought for a moment and then responded from memory, "yeah, those things are pretty basic load out for Destroyer's these days." Her features softened. "It is good to see you too."

That caused the memory to jolt painfully back into the forefront of his mind, he nearly winced but instantly composed himself, though his eyes did close a bit in self shame. He opened them and she was there.

"Well, we are going to have to be running a mission soon, and I think that they are just going to be what we need in order to come through the fire."

"I see, follow me to the cargo hold please"

He did so.

He entered in the main war room for the fighter pilots, the C&C for their squadrons adjacent to the launch bays, and Norman turned with a perturbed look on his face.

"I had to check to see if we had some specialist equipment aboard sir. It will let us complete the mission."

"I see," it looked like he was going to launch into a rebuke, but instead he sighed. "Let us get to work then."

"Yes sir."

They began to work, getting the rest of the charts and navigational information out in front of them as they looked at where they would have to put themselves in order to complete their missions. Keegan debated on whether or not they needed to launch a diversionary assault on a fuel depot on the other side of the border, but in the end he decided against it figuring that it would not do much good for them. Besides the key to an assault like that was the ability to be seen, which his Raptors were not good at that, and if they made themselves, the Centauri would expect them. Or blow them out of the sky which would annoy Earth Force no end.

They made primary and back up plans, coming up with a hundred different scenarios to the time of engagement, and then running them through the computers that were attached to the wall.

They waited for the results which took a mere five minutes, Keegan frowned at them. But then again they were using new tactics that were never before employed by the Earth Force to this point in actual combat situations.

They were still going to have to cross nearly three hundred kilometers of open space when they came out of the field and went into the pocket, at the minimum of 250, but the computer, always programmed for the worse case scenarios, figured that they would have their sensors pointed in that area so they would be bushwhacked as soon as they came out.

"We need a diversion" James Norman said looking down at the data.

"I doubt this thing is correct, why would they even be expecting an attack?"

"Yeah, well we should still get one just in case we are to, I guess the term is to explode." Norman said.

"Well I am sure we will think of something, we still have nearly an hour to get this all done. Hell what we could really use is a nuke, get their attention with a massive burst of energy."

"Well we would need to get the Gandalf in close for that."

"Not necessarily, it would not have to be a very big one….no forget it, they will recognize the signature and not think anything of it, what we need is a definite jump point event, cause them to expect that something is coming."

"Now that we can take care of, we will just go to the other end of the field and open a definite event, should attract their attention like moths to flame."

"I like that." He paused rubbing his chin. "We are almost done, I would like to run through the sims one more time just to be sure."

After he did so, he and Stacia went in front of the assembled air group, standing in front of the big status screen which showed their objective and other information.

They were nearly done with the specifics of the briefing, and were just basically waiting to summarize all that they had said.

"So our objective is to get close to the enemy, engage the enemy vessels that we might find, and finally take out the station and prevent it from continuing their operations in this area."

A pilot in Beta squadron raised his hand a bit gingerly. "Sir, if I may, how are we going to get there?"

Keegan nodded at Stacia, where she went over to the front switcher and activated the display, switching images until she got to the right one.

"This," she began, "is the mk. 1 Hyperteather, designed to attach to a grapple cable and form a jump point when needed. We will be able to choose when and where we want to jump, and then go from there to the target."

"Furthermore the EAS _Gandalf_ will be there as backup, if we should need it. She is also launching a distraction on the other end of the belt from us, hoping to draw their sensors and give us the time to approach then enemy forces."

The pilot nodded.

Keegan got down off of the steps, the two or three of them down the plat form and stood level with the rest of his crews moving ever upward in rows of ten. "The attack will be in two waves, we will be the spear that will burst in through their defenses. And then will come assault shuttles armed with nuclear warheads in order to ensure the complete destruction of the facility. It will be our job to neutralize or limit all of the stations defenses, and weaken their hull enough where the strike will be effective. I hate to say it pilots, but we cannot do this alone. Good luck to us all, we launch in fifteen."

"Attention!" Alpha 2 said snapping up in attention, along with the rest of the fighters, as one, and then they turned on their heals and left. Lt. Keegan watched them filing out, keeping his eyes on them subdued, until he came to Captain Patterson, he nodded satisfied with how the plan had come to develop.

He also left the room, with Stacia following him at a close distance. "Uh, Lt." He did not quite stop, figuring he knew what was coming. "Michael!" She said.

He stopped and turned. "Yes?" he inquired ever so slightly, trying to keep his voice even.

"I want to fly in the number two spot with you, be your rear flier."

"Absolutely not." Keegan said, unsurprised by her request.

"I am qualified on most Starfury systems, and I am the only one who really knows anything about the new equipment you requested, I am the only one for the job really…and besides it will be fun…come on please."

He felt like sighing, "Alright, suit up and meet us down there in the appropriate time, we will not wait."

"Understood." She said hurrying off.

Lt. Michael Keegan went into the hanger and checked in left, he went right for the Thunderbolt, taking the helmet from CPO Anders. "Thanks Chief" he said, as he noticed a few more people still working on them making sure that they were still combat capable. A ladder went into position, and he nearly raced up it, as Stacia came into the room in a form fitting flight suit, Keegan had to fight down the urge not to gulp.

They both raced up the ladder together, securing their helmets to the top of their heads, and then looking around the area, and taking in the controls.

It felt extremely good to be back in the cockpit of this fighter. Of which he had not flown in a long and many ages. It felt so good, and so classic, and so…familiar, like a coming home party. It felt good to be in the classic fighter, for it was now that with the Raptors being built. This was before they were even able to update all the new controls in the new Furies and get them capable for launching.

They launched, all ten of the remaining fighters went out through the magnetic locks and then out into deep space, he felt like showing off a little, rotating around and pointing himself at the _Gandalf_ then gently swooping back around pointing his nose toward the objective.

Captain Patterson was watching the procession, a bit nervous that he was sending his complete flight out like this all alone, it did not sit right with traditional doctrine in modern flight operations.

"All fighters have been launched sir" An officer toward the end of the bridge reported as the Thunderbolts began to head into deep space.

"Launch the hyper probe." Captain Patterson ordered as the crewmembers went to complete with that order.

"The teather has been launched sir," Delta two reported from his perch just off Keegan's wing.

"Snag it snag it!" He shouted.

"Delta 7, this is Delta 7, spinning to have it…" Keegan watched as the ship left and spun on its heels, firing its grapple as it came within range.

"This is strike leader to _Gandalf_, we have it sir awaiting permission to engage the enemy."

"Roger that Lt, Jump point is forming." Captain Patterson said in his helmet. The bright yellow flash flashed across his helmet, he smiled as the jumpoint formed. "Good hunting Starfury strike group." He finished.

"Thank you _Gandalf_ see you on the other side." Keegan said accelerating his engines and then going into the jump point.

They had been in hyperspace for nearly an hour now, getting close to their objective on the other side of the asteroid field.

The whole purpose of the device that Delta 7 was trailing behind it was to allow starfury pilots the opportunity to jump in and out of areas of importance, and actually contribute to the battlefield.

In all weapons and classifications before this, the Furies range was already limited, and thus was their rolls. Always to a ship support role, or air superiority or short strike, never were they really allowed to offer a truly deep strike mission. Except for sometimes within solar systems, but capitol ships were so much better suited, leaving Furies to deal with instillations as the mother ships engaged any defenses.

This was contributing to the debate of whether or not it was even worth it to build ever increasingly expensive fighter ships.

Like the new Raptors. This whole debate had to go with the usefulness of such small ships, with ship defenses and CIWS systems increasing in complexity with each passing day, life as a Starfury pilot was becoming more and more dangerous, especially for the Raptor, despite all of its enhancements. The Raptor was designed to nullify the advantage of most of the enemy technology from any conceivable vector, but it really was over designed and expensive to build. It was ridiculous almost.

In order to obtain funding, that they had to fight for bitterly for the last couple of years, they had to find ever new and novel ways to use the premier fighters, in order to justify their existence where that money could be used for almost anything else.

And thus, the Earth Force R and D developed this device, that allowed Furies to travel in hyperspace and strike anywhere. The Thunderbolt was already more then capable, but now they had the ability to get there and put fire on a target easily. Without having to use a jumpgate, which were extremely limiting in their own right. And relegated Furies back to mainly their support roll. And thus now an eight hour trip would take only about an hour. The only limitation was that it tended to drag the fighter dragging the device along, using the speed controls, and limiting them to a virtual crawl, they could only be as fast as their slowest ship. Which caused them to have a lopsided formation.

They were also not on any jump beacons. They were just going to a set of coordinates that they knew would let them out to near where they wanted, it was going to be close though. They were nearly there.

"Alright flight, stand by to activate jump drives and transition to normal space, in five seconds….and mark." The device was released as the hyperspace warped around them forming a jump point into the middle of normal space, as they all jumped in and engaged their engines, one after the other going out of the point , and flying into the asteroid field, which masked them from sensors.

"No hard echos sir!" One of his flight responded. "No hard scans detected, it seems like we are free and clear. Distance to target looks to be 10000 plus kilometers."

"Thanks Delta 5, good job everyone, we missed our ingress point, but at least we are pretty much on schedule, now let us not get hit by anything and we should be free and clear."

The group dove into the field, spinning and thrusting in between the loose formation of rocks, keeping their heads on a swivel, ready to respond to the least possible change of direction. Only the most elite and the most daring ever wanted to do this.

The group forced itself to the opposite wall of the field that they entered, heading in a relatively straight line into the battlefield.

Thirty-five minutes of this, and they were about ready to go out into battle.

"Well the mothership should have already started its little diversion for us, we should be good to go." He clicked on his mike. "OK everyone, we are nearly there, charge your weapons up, and prepare to ride into the fire ladies and gentlemen, bring all of the combat systems online, and standby to egress the asteroid field."

The seconds counted down, and then without a word he selected a space in between two asteroids and accelerated to maximum speed, shooting in between the rocks and out into open space, the rest of his squadron was following him. As ten marine fighters swooped down on its pray, a mere 220 Kilometers from its position.

Keegan tightened his fingers around both the throttle, and the main joystick, as the fighter shot out, and sped toward its target. Ready to respond to anything that was happening to it.

"That station is trying to get a hard lock on us! Warning we have a radiation spike coming from it, sensors and countermeasures looks like they know we are here. Trying to lock us up." Delta 7 flat out screamed in the headset.

"Easy people easy."

"Lieutenant," Stacia said from his backseat. "We are by no means close enough to deploy our little surprise for the Centauri. We need to get closer, a lot closer."

He inwardly cursed to himself, and then went into combat mode, "OK you heard the lady. Punch it!" He said, adding in his afterburners, and feeling the thrust slam him against his seat as they accelerated toward the target, and without inertial dampners it made things a whole lot more interesting.

But the T-Bolts were radiating their own countermeasures to full at that moment, and they were closing on the target at a lightning fast speed, which caused the targeting computers to ever constantly update itself and get new data. And the Centauri did not trust the system enough to blind fire.

Onward the assaulters sped, right up until…. "we are in position."

"NOW NOW NOW!" He said into his com, as she reached down into her panel and opened the cargo door of his fighter, deploying a large spherical satelite out of it, this was followed by all ten fighters of the squadron. "Pull away!" He ordered, they all turned gracefully, using the plasma retros to change the course in a swooping pattern, each fighter peeling off at just about the enemy station's weapons range. They got a hard lock and fired.

But the spheres took combat data being streamed in to them direct from their thunderbolt escorts, assigned the biggest threats, and then they fired. White energy filled and exploded from them, arching out through space, blinding the area and tearing a line of white energy through space they were firing so many balls of energy so quickly.

These were new self-propelled defense platforms for fighters. Earth Force over the years since the Minbari wars were developing ever more complicated armor and E-Web technology that could go on their fighters, just like with the rest of the fleet, increasing their survivability. But even then fighters defenses and ability to survive was a fraction of that of most starships, especially given the fact if you took them up against fixed installations. Even the premier Raptor and Thunderbolt could not hold up for long under sustained firepower from a station, which limited fighter effectiveness again. Plus they did not have anything that could really go into the 'interceptor' roll, not without greatly reducing their combat effectiveness against those very same targets. That is what the D-Sat 5s were for, to provide a mobile platform that would provide some cover, Earth Force hoped it was enough, to cover the fighters into their targets until they could launch a critical strike.

They were working perfectly, they drawed the fire in, and then knocked it down, defeating it and forcing them to use up valuable energy.

And with the added bonus of their was enough energy and radiation radiating from points in space, to the station, and from the gun platforms itself, that it gave the thirsty sensors of the antiradiation missiles the perfect target to shoot at. Looking like a super nova in comparison with the bleakness of the space around them, the only source of Centauri energy was coming from one place, and no jammers could stop them.

Keegan took stock of the tactical situation, and immediately started to assign orders, as he opened his throttle back up to full and sped at the station. "Delta's 8-10, assume trail position, cover us as we go in from any fighters that may try and jump us, Delta's 1-7, punch it and ride it on hard, aim your missiles right for their defenses, Delta 3, you got their main guns."

The first seven starfuries sped in as the main weapons on the station were beginning to fire again after their brief recharge. The defense satellites and systems on the T-Bolts added their weight once again to the battle blowing most of the balls out of the sky, two of them though hit one of the fighters in the engine, causing it to jolt slightly to port.

"I am hit." Delta six said. "Not bad, only in the number one engine. I think I can handle it for a little while longer."

Keegan made two clicks in acknowledgment, as the scanner seeker head on the missiles finally warbled to life before achieving hard lock on a few targets.

He pressed down on the trigger, sending the five missles burning through space, as he used the retros to turn the Fury up on its side, and down below the outer ring of the station. Several of the other fighters followed suit.

Several of the missiles hit their targets, and a few of them went after the same targets, causing impressive damage. The greatest damage was done when three missiles damaged a CIWS turret on the Centauri station, and caused it to open to space. All the others stayed put, though out of commission, the missile salvo failing to breach the hall due to the hardened systems behind the Centauri turrets.

Delta 3 took a radical sweeping arc, coming in below the station, and then popping above it, hitting the retros at the precise instant to send him shooting over the station, releasing a stream of plasma at precisely the right instant in order to take out the main guns. Two brief bursts slammed into the hull of the Centauri weapons systems, causing massive damage to the systems, and leaving the Centauri hull plating glowing, but the hull still did not breach, it just fused the guns together preventing them from launching.

The main bay that led to the Centauri fighters and shuttle opened up, quickly in an emergency pattern. Delta 8 and 9 pounced on it, while 10 stayed back ever so slightly. Covering the back door. Both the fighters rolled over slightly, getting over into position, and then they both let go a long gout of flame from their main guns, spitting out hundreds of yellow balls of ionic energy which went into the bay, destroying anything in their path. Then Delta 8 pickled up a missile, and then released it into the bay blindly, with seeming great luck it flew back into the bay where it hit close to the fuel drum that fed the massive fighter force, and exploded in a giant fireball that poured out through the open bay into space. This caused light damage to the surrounding systems, but it destroyed everything in the bay, all the fighters and shuttles.

Captain Patterson almost felt like pacing gently back and forth, but stayed glued to his chair, not even daring too really move. He glanced up at the speaker and coms every now and then nervously, he was not really used to this, sending in fighters when he was not in the thick of it himself.

"Great shot Delta 8!" He heard his CAG say over the intercom.

"Damn, Delta 6 here, taking more fire from interceptors, I am bailing out hard, sorry."

"There is nothing more you can do, get clear back there." Keegan ordered sounding a bit peeved.

After a pause of several seconds with the pause of battle in the background suddenly a startled cry came over the internets. "Jump point active! One Centauri warship just emerged."

"Identify quickly" Keegan said sounding stressed.

"It looks like a light cruiser class, they are beginning to get us locked up, jammers look to be ineffective."

"OK gentlemen, punch it." Patterson could just make out them spinning out of the way and taking evasive action, he nearly got over his feet to rush over to the helm to order a jump point to recover their fighters, and provide cover against the cruiser…perhaps even taking it out. Until he heard…

"Tallyho!"

Out of the asteroid field came all of Charlie Squadron, the remainder of it, six Furies raced in at maximum thrust, swooping in, swinging in low and high, just as the cruiser was about to get a hard lock, and was deploying all of its cannons.

The Raptors went in low and fast, coming in close next to the hull of the light cruiser, which had no fighters to deploy. They came in at full burn, turning in one at a time, getting a slight target lock as they each launched their missile payloads, which included over 32 missiles. Each of them hitting a specific target on the long neck of the hull, many of them taking out weapons and interceptor emplacements.

The guns then turned outward, and fired long streams of energy into space, alighting the area around it, trying to swat away the pests, to little avail. All of them cleared quickly enough, some of them turning into, radically moving around, and pointing their guns at the enemy vessel. Each burst hitting a key location on the long upper wing of the vessel, and then on the engine emplacements, one of the fighters firing directly into it causing some light damage. They then set up for another pass.

"Alright boys, they got our backsides now, all fighters turn in and engage the enemy station." Keegan said, and then he asked for more power from his back seat driver as he made a radical left spinning turn pointing his nose at the station, as the group of fighters charged in hard. All of them locking up places on the hull, before the remaining defenses could reset themselves.

Keegan was satisfied, and then slammed down on the trigger, sending a wave of energy into the hull, the other fighters followed up after about five seconds, sending a tremendous amount of energy into the station. Hull plating began to glow white hot, a few breeches were open, and huge swaths of ablative armor sheered off into deep space, sparking as they went.

They then split in multiple directions at once, spinning out of the way, two of the fighters nearly collided into one another because the move was so perfect, one snap rolled right, and the other spiraled left, rolling out toward deep space. The former fighter launched another hail of energy right directly into the station, causing some more damage onto the station's hull.

Keegan was now in the zone, travelling down the well at high speed. "Where are they?"

"Their targeting beams are moving left and right of us, defense sats are still working" Stacia said, adjusting her scanners. "heads up."

Keegan deftly adjusted his thruster suite, sending him in a slight juke to the right, and then to the left, pointing at the station, were he continued, and then fired off his cannons again, strafing the station and wiping out a whole section of its defenses.

"This is the assualt shuttles, I think we should break in and out, and make some tracks, we are in range, and ready to engage our strike options, do we proceed?"

Keegan did not quite like it, he switched to his squads primary tactical frequency.

"Alright, provide cover to any defenses that we have not gotten, some of us will, and some of us will continue to weaken the hull, set automatic to fire intercept. Do not break for the hills until my mark." He switched over. "Tactical flight, you are cleared to fire at all, I repeat you are cleared to go."

The T-Bolts got into position, pointing at the enemy facility, and then they released their entire remaining payloads, as the two swooped winged shuttles appeared out of the asteroid field, and got a hard lock, each releasing their two 20 KT nukes, three of them headed for the station, while the other one headed for the light cruiser.

The Thunderbolts launched plasma as the mess of defenses tried to hit the missiles, as some of the fighters tried to hit the remaining positions, destroying or damaging them.

They hit, opening the breaches larger, and opening up whole sections to space, as the station was ripped apart in a spectacular fireball, the fighters spinning out of the way hard, some of the last ones just barely made it out of the blast radius.

The Cruiser was like wise ripped apart, but a lot less of a fireball, as a white light blinded all the pilots in the nearby space, as the cruiser dissapeared in the explosion. The Raptors were caught in it, but the armor did a great job of absorbing the radiation and preventing the pilots from being turned into crispy critters.

After the dust settled the _Gandalf_ jumped in, and recovered all of her fighters. Using the emergency batteries to jump out again.


	6. Beachfront

Captain Patterson looked out the Space Station window overlooking the birth that his ship was in. Worker pods raced along the edges of the ship, tightening and securing bolts, regenerating the Shadow tech armor, and generally readying the ship again. The refit was going well, already into its second day since they arrived here, on the edge of Earth Alliance space.

He turned around when he heard a door in the back slowly and quietly whoosh open, as another small knot of officers entered. He was by no means the only ship that was taking up station here, and the commander of the local flight squadron was also present.

As was commander Ramirez, the station commander that oversaw the staion facilities. He too was looking out a viewpoint, leaning against the wall, looking out into the deep black void, with a mostly blank expression on his face.

Patterson looked back over his ship, then also at the depth of space. It was so easy to get lost in them, to get lost out there. So peaceful, and silent…and just plain nothing, stretching out to eternity. Not a single indication of war, or trouble in this part of the Horizon.

But sadly this was just not true, for him personally, and for the entire universe itself.

He sighed to himself, deeply troubled with the thoughts that he was thinking. He put his head down onto his breast, looking down at the deck plating. The stars were to him always a safe haven, which is why he came out here, safe from the concerns of planetary politics and populations. How quickly those childish dreams and ambitions were shattered. He had to not only deal with the problems of star ship life, including war, from a young age, but he also had to rely on and be tied to the whims and politics of planetary concerns. He had gotten used to it, and still in truth there was no where that he would rather be. No matter what the cost to himself.

For this was still the greatest adventure ever, and the best job in the universe, even after the old age, and after everything that he had accomplished in his life. No longer was he running from his past. But, he did not look forward too fighting in another war either, this was tragic to say the least. He was tired of war, and tired of fighting. With anyone.

The truth was though, for this moment, he could stand at here looking out into The Sea of Stars, for hours on end, but his feet were starting to hurt from the strain. He wrapped his arms around himself as if he were cold, but he was merely contemplative, and weary.

Stacia Clarke was walking down one of the long station corridors on E deck, right around the outer docking ring, after she made sure everything was in working order she left her post and made her way slowly into the station's interior. Heading toward this stations fresh air restaurant.

She would have stayed longer, insisted on taking part in the actions and the repairs going on around her…at least coordinating the efforts, and making sure the ship was in its tip top shape. She would have done this even to her own self-exhaustion, but now she had other plans.

Michael asked her out, to his credit he was apologetic about the whole thing, this had to make her smile. Still the decision was a hard one, coming between a man and a ship. But in the end she knew what she wanted for herself personally, her duty could wait for a little while. She hoped that she was going to enjoy tonight, and felt a tingle of anticipation to what Keegan had prepared for her.

She turned around the corner, taking a left-hand turn, going into the restaurant, she grinned at the pleasant surprise before her. The rather drab military station was turned into a room filled with blue panels, casting a pale blue light throughout the area, fine upholstered silks made up tapestries on the wall, and made for good table covers on all of the tables.

A white shirted and jacketed attendant was waiting by the door that she entered, he took her jacket gently from her shoulders with a gentle tug, followed by a polite bow and a welcome. She smiled at him and nodded slightly.

She rippled her shoulders around a bit, reveling in the cool sensation that was pouring over them now that they were barred for the world to see. Except for a double set of tattoos on her left shoulder, portraying a Starfury and a wrench.

She began to look around for Michael, finally spotting him at a table near the back, he was standing waiting over the chair, looking at her dully, and obviously shocked into starring. When he noticed that she was looking back, his eyes widened slightly and he just barely gulped. She stopped mid stride at that, her mouth opening slightly revealing her surprise…was it still possible that he could be this awkward? She then smiled at him lopsidedly, letting him know that it was all right.

Michael Keegan was looking at her, admiring her on the inside, even though he knew that his external facial expressions did not mirror this…but instead showed the expression of a dazed donkey that was about to be slaughtered…perhaps an apt metaphor.

He would have thought that the gulp would have cleared things, he was wrong. He took in her black flowing dress, pooling slightly just above her legs revealing brownish dress shoes. Her bare shoulders were pure and white, as was her face and upper chest, which was slightly exposed. Her hair gleaned in the light, looking darker, but shining somehow…probably the shampoo that she was using or something. It was rolled back into a regal bun, that was showing just above the line of the top of her hair.

She was smiling at him slightly, which caused him to get back into action finally.

"Your table Madame," he said with a bow, the gallantry shocking even him, as he pulled out her seat, which she took in four graceful steps.

He pushed her seat in, and then had to control himself from running to the other side like a giddy schoolboy. Excitement was beginning to bubble up inside of him just below the surface. He sat down, and then launched a calming breath.

A waitress appeared at their table, materializing there as if something out of science fiction. She stood there and took their drink orders, Stacia was having a simple mineral water, while he was having a gin and soda. Something that he always thought of as a light diluted drink.

She left to go fill the order, leaving the two of them alone. The silence that stretched out between them was palpable, it hung over them, and was rapidly beginning to get awkward.

He cleared his throat nervously, she glanced at him looking above her menu, waiting for him to continue. "So, how are things with the ship? What needs to be fixed?" He finally asked.

She mouthed the question back at him, a bit shocked, before mumbling. "You know, this and that, small things mostly, should not be much of a problem." She felt a slight blush rising to her cheeks, but rushed to cut it off, not willing to show it to him yet, and being a bit annoyed that she felt like she could not do it.

He sighed deeply for a second, "I just have never been much of a people person, always so much more confident around machines, around my fighters. They cannot talk back or disappoint you, unless you have failed yourself."

She was partially shocked by this, but only partially. Knowing machines so well, and being an engineer she understood the mentality. As well as having people letting her down and being distant around her from time to time, but she could never imagine a love of machines transferring itself in such a way, becoming so manifest.

"Girls in particular, I just never get how to handle them…or handle myself around them." He shifted uncomfortably.

She smiled coyly. "Well we are just going to have to get on that, aren't we?"

He raised his first real genuine grin around her. "Yeah, I would like that, that would be nice. Hell, it's always made my assignments a bit awkward in the past. Has not given me that much room to maneuver in terms of interaction with crew and my teams. Explains my rank."

The drinks arrived and they toasted lightly to one another, he seemed to warm up gradually as the night proceeded and as they had their meals with one another.

But it still was not enough.

Captain Patterson was sitting at his desk in his quarters on board of the _Gandalf._ The repair teams had already moved on past his quarters on this deck, and were moving on to the next one, fixing anything that could have been wrong with his ship.

He rummaged around blindly in his desk for a few more minutes, looking, looking, and searching. Trying to find…he found it, he removed it and was surprised to see the dust and debris that was covering it again. He blew softly on it clearing it off.

He turned it over and looked at the photograph of a young teenaged boy, his arms around the waste of his slightly obese father. They both had smiles on their faces.

His eyes started to moisten a bit, he rubbed them, and then stared off into space for about another hour or two, lost in the sea of memories this time. Replaying those events over and over again for the thousandth time.

But in the end, this kind of thinking did not do him any good, so he tried to stop, over viewing the odd situation that he found himself in, the war, with the confusing Centauri trying to interogate with ruthless intensity.

Just the day after they were recalled from the front, a mere two days ago, the Centauri launched a massive offensive against the Narn homeworld, they got to the outside of the system, and engaged a Narn/Earth Alliance fleet. They were quickly over run, despite the brutal battle, this seemed to end the Centauri threat. No doubt this was in retaliation for the fighter pilots destroying the command bunker of the Centauri on their last mission. The Centauri made another foolish blunder, but they nearly took the Narn with them there were so many ships. They both fought to the death.

Since then, nothing, the Centauri seemed to be licking its wounds for at least a short time. Who knew for how long?

Patterson hoped that the war was over, but he doubted it, in fact he suspected that this was only the beginning of things, that the Centauri were not going to stay quiet for long.

Jose was leading the Marines around the corner on one of the main decks of the space station, they were near the top of the station, by the service sections, no one spent a lot of time up here. So it was an excellent place for him to exercise his marines, which he was doing, marching a slight chant to keep them in order.

He knew that he was going to loathe starship duty, there was no place that he could keep his men and women on the level that he truly wanted them to be at, none at all, all he could do was just keep going. He could not find a regular place to exercise his men the way he wanted to, and the gym facilities were below lacking…best of the best indeed. But now that he had the use of this space station stuck in the middle of nowhere he had every attention of making full use of it.

He kept his marines in perfect sink, watching over his shoulder at their streaming chests and faces, watching carefully at his personal fly boy….err girl…as she panted to keep up with him. He could not blame her, sitting down in a fighter most of the time and only having to worry about tinkering with various objects, oh yes, this was good. He snickered internally, yes, he would whip them up into shape soon enough.

The constant perfectionist, the leader form the front, and the professional all were lobbying as he urged his people ever forward…but finally he had to call it a rest, he reluctantly bade his people to go to their quarters.

They were tired, and gratefully showed it by slumping to their quarters, this almost angered him further, but he decided that just this once it would not do them any good to further provoke the squad that he had here training. He just made a special note as for which ones he had to watch out for.

Early the next morning Captain Patterson stepped through the electric door of the C&C aboard the space station, he turned left and almost ran into the station commander, who had requested his presence a short while ago.

He stiffened appropriately. "Ah good Captain, you are here, I want you to take a look at something." He said leading him over to a control panel, leaving Patterson just to nod his acceptance as he was shown the data.

They both glanced over the shoulder of a crew person sitting at the station as all three of them were now out there and taking in the information that was presented on the screen. On it was an energy signature that looked like drive profiles, and to Patterson's limited memory on the subject they looked like incredibly old drive profiles.

He glanced at the commander of the station. "And?"

"Well this would seem to indicate that we have at least six Hyperion class Cruisers coming up on us." The Commander responded stiffening upward to look at his superior officer.

Patterson thought that over for a minute. "Hyperion's? Here? Weren't all of them decommissioned a long time ago?"

"That is what I thought too, confirmation should be coming up here in a few minutes." The Commander said and then waited.

"Sirs, drive profile and sensors match, they are definitely Hyperion's from the data we have collected so far, visual range probes should be coming up in about another minute." The officer manning the station paused for that minute. "On screen" he finally said.

On the screen materialized six of the vintage vessel, flying in a tight formation making almost a circle with each vessel nearly touching the others.

"Could some National Guard units still have them active for the defense of their stations?" The commander asked, to no one in particular, just trying to reason things out as to what was happening before his eyes.

Patterson shook his head. "It is unlikely, most of those prefer the newer Lupos anyway. And besides a good many units do not carry hyperspace generators, preferring to use that extra room for storage, firepower, or emergency relief space. And these ships did not come through the hump gate."

He ran his eyes over their image again, trying to see what was at the bottom of this. "Have we tried hailing them?"

"No response as of yet." Both of the officers before him said almost simultaneously.

"Sirs, they are increasing speed."

"What?" The commander asked slightly shocked.

"They are beginning to pick up their speed and their closure rate."

The station commander blinked for a few seconds. "I thought they were at their maximum speed."

"So did I." The Ensign admitted a bit baffled.

"What is their current course, where will they pass us by?" Captain Patterson asked trying to keep the two men focused.

The Ensign's hands raced over the panel that was infront of him. "They will pass us within twenty one kilometers out, they are coming in fast, I estimate about ten minutes before they get here."

Patterson over looked the hull of the enemy ships one more time. "I do not like it, no burns or blemishes at all around. It is just not… right."

"I concur with you Captain. Put the station on full alert, lets get the defense grid up and launch our Starfury squadrons." The Commander said looking straight at communications.

"Yes sir." Alert klaxons began to blare all throughout the ship after those words. Followed by a "Sir, Delta and Alpha Squadrons have launched and are out the door. They are baring on the Hyperion cruisers, weapons on hold."

"Status?" The commander inquired.

"They are still about four minutes out sir." Another officer said at the other end of the room.

"Sir their speed is increasing, it looks as though their reactor is building to an overload, it could go at any second."

"How long?" Patterson asked the Ensign.

"Not long, its difficult too tell." He responded.

"Tell the Starfuries to approach the vessels and ascertain the status of the vessels incoming, are the grids up?"

"All screens are up Commander, Fighters are moving in a pattern to try and determine status of the reactor, and to see what life signs are aboard."

"What do you have for fighters?" Patterson asked the man next to him.

"Nothing much, just one squadron of Thunderbolts, and another squadron of Firebolt class Starfuries." The Commander responded. "Tell them to make one pass and then-"

Light suddenly blossomed in the display screen, quickly becoming bright and overpowering as Patterson and the Ensign had to look away and cover their eyes, as that same image was reflected through the transparent material that made up one wall of the station's C&C. Patterson instantly knew what had happened, those birds reactors just went critical. It was a trap.

"Sensors are out! Trying to switch to backups." The Ensign said sounding slightly panicked all of a sudden as his hands began racing across the control panel in front of him. "Sensors are beginning to auto correct."

Just as those words left the officers mouth, the floor beneath Patterson's feat jolted as if a particular stong hammer had hit them. He nearly lost his balance as he felt the room shake and rattle around us.

"That wasn't a shockwave, something hit us." The commander said as it happened again, and then a third time.

"Sir, sensors now read eight Vorchan class assault cruisers, they must have just emerged from the hyperspace, they are also attacking us, and the surrounding dry dock that we are connected to." The Ensign reported sounding professional.

"Why isn't the E-Web and defenses keeping them at bay for a little?"

"Sensors were knocked out, it is taking a little while for everything to return itself to normal." The Ensign reported, fielding the question smoothly.

Patterson could not wait any longer. "I have to get to my ship, permission to leave the C&C."

"Granted Patterson, get to your ship and prepare to help us in the defense."

He left the room and marched right into the corridor, as the doors whooshed open to admit him entrance to the space beyond, he turned left and slowly maneuvered down the hall.

He calmly marched down the corridor as it slowly dissolved into chaos. All he could do though was be calm, he would get there. As crew and officers ran down the way, and in front of him, some of them even gently moving past him, using their hands to cushion their impact as they rushed over to whatever assignments they had to go to. Another hit nearly caused him to stumble, but he regained his composure and marched on.

A hit rattled through the very bones of the _Gandalf_, Colonel James Norman stepped into the bridge, having to grab hold of the back of a crew chair in order to keep from falling down.

"Status!" he barked.

"Eight Centauri Cruisers have jumped out of hyperspace and are beginning to attack the main station and the docking facilities, so far we have taken minimal damage, what we are experiencing is only the after shocks from the bursts hitting near the station. The station is beginning to sustain massive damage, we are trapped here for the moment."

Norman looked around the bridge lost and confused for one second. They were ambushed! Caught with their pants down and there was nothing that they could do about it as of yet.

"Where are our fighters?!?!" He asked.

"Still launching sir, but most of them were caught on the station when it came under attack."

"Also on the station, many of the crew were on it for shore leave when this happened. We are trying to recall them as fast as we can, but there are many ships in dry dock that are getting repairs and checks, the lanes are a bit congested leading into here."

James cursed to himself, almost showing it, he could not lose his cool that is all his people needed. He looked around in satisfaction though, his rigorous training was finally starting to really show as all the crew tended to their stations with the outmost diligence. And without panicking either. He took a deep steadying breath and moved to glance around all the stations again, just as he was about to sit down though, Captain Patterson entered the room with a small gait.

"Sir!" James nearly saluted.

"I know, we have a situation here, have we been able to get up any of our fighters?"

"Only about a full squadron, but their numbers are mixed with people from all over the ship. Many of the pilots still have not returned, the Centauri have not put a good size fighter force out."

"OK everyone, stay cool and prepare to get under way, let us warm up the engines and set an escape vector away from here. We cannot afford to mess this up people."

He got a chorus of acknowledgements as his orders were carried out.

Michael Keegan ran into the hangerbay that contained his and a few other Raptors, he analyzed the situation taking in the organized chaos. This was the perfect situation for the crews to prove themselves, and they were handling the responsibility greatly. They knew what they were doing and were carrying out their hurried orders in perfect unison, despite it not looking that way to the untrained eye.

Behind him Stacia nearly bumped in to him, which would have knocked him over.

"Where do you need me?" Stacia asked.

He turned on her slightly, breath rising, he grabbed her by the shoulders to get them both to calm down. "I need you no where at this moment, not here."

"Right, sorry, engineering." She said calming down and wincing at her own near stupidity, she knew where she needed to go. "I will see you later then."

He felt the sudden insane urge to kiss her at that point in time, boldness and audacity spreading and surging through his body as adrenaline and blood pumped through his veins. It was an almost insatiable desire and he had to clear his throat before releasing her. She sped back toward the lift, he watched after her for a second, getting his excited nerves back under control.

Keegan then moved into a jog as he moved toward his fighter just as a ladder was sliding into position, he took his helmet from Anders as he placed himself in the seat and turned on his systems. "Thanks" he said as he placed his helmet on his head.

"Sure no problem, you are good to go." Anders said giving him a thumb up and pointing towards the magnetic shield.

He returned it and turned on his engines. Going out the bay along with Alphas 3 and 4.

Stacia arrived in the engine room in a huff. She was still in off duty attire and several of her crew looked stunned as she entered the engineering space.

She snapped at them, and they went back into attention. "Alright, let us get these engines warmed up, its time to move."

"The process is already started commander, we took the liberty as soon as the attack happened, we are about to have them warmed up."

"And the hyperdrive?"

The young Ensign, her second in command down here, winced to himself. "No sir we did not."

"Well that is OK, you did fine even getting the engines started." She gave him her best reassuring smile, which seemed to work wonders. "Now we need to get the hyperdrive started." She said springing over the rails her dress billowing.

"Mackenzie, Macallough, spread out to damage control, we are going to be needing it soon I think, the rest of you begin the jump drive start up procedures. Lets move people."

Her crew ran hither and thither throughout the entirety of the bay, and then out the exits into the ship beyond. She and her second in command went over by the main hyperspace console and typed in a series of commands in on it, and then they both went over and pressed the levers that controlled the startup for the hyperspace vortex generators, as the engine began to hum to life.

On the bridge the crewman manning the engineering status board turned and reported, "Sir, our main hyperspace engines just began their warm-up procedures, they will be on line presently."

"Thank you." Patterson said staring just over his chair, and then checking his sensors, "I was just about to order that. Get me Keegan."

He complied with his Captain's orders as Keegan's voice drifted in over the intercom. "Keegan here."

"Keegan, we are about to try and punch out of here. We need cover until we are ready, but I doubt we can retrieve you in time, you are going to have to follow us into the hyperspace vortex."

"Yeah, neither of those two things shouldn't be much of a problem. The Centauri have only two squadrons out here, and we and the stations defensive fighters are taking care of them. And we should be able to follow you into the Vortex quite easily."

"Good," Patterson smiled, "_Gandalf _out." He then turned to the stations toward the center of the bridge. "Helm, reverse engines, give me one third thrusters, and take us out of here."

"Sir, the docking clams will not release, we are stuck here."

"Blast our way out if we have to…no better yet get me the station commander on the main viewer."

"Hailing…visual established sir."

"Commander, this is Captain Patterson on the _Gandalf_, requesting permission to clear on out of here."

"Negative Patterson."

"Sir, you may have not noticed but there is a small flotilla of heavily armed ships outside the station waiting to come in, if we do not leave now we may not be able to."

"I understand that." The commander said with a hint of annoyance. "We are evacuating, if you could give us ten minutes, and just ten minutes, and we are sending some of the survivors to go out with your ship. We are not going to be able to last much longer as it is."

Patterson slumped, and his head sank in the down position. "Affirmative, we will give you all the time that you need to evacuate, but I am not sure we even have ten minutes."

"Sir, a cruiser has taken up position at the other end of the berth, they are pointing in on us, but they are not firing."

"They are waiting for us to come out." Colonel Norman said. Patterson nodded in agreement.

Marine Captain Kurylenko bounded through the open airlock with his marine squad behind him, missing a step and nearly stumbling to the ground as another pressure wave rattled through the ship. "Come on go go go!" He said to his people slapping each of them hard on the backs as they went on through. And to think he originally was dreading this assignment.

He was going to slam the airlock shut when the harsh breathing of Doctor Albright stopped him. "Don't close that airlock, we are going to be taking on evacuees." He said as three nurses, and another doctor came around the corner and began setting up.

"We can help." The young Marine Captain nodded decisively

"Alright then get to work." The Doctor jabbed a thumb back over his shoulder indicating that he should send some people there.

"Alright, first squad, just go out and help with damage control, second squad set up a relay along the corridor, and third squad you are with me, we will hold right here and help with the Doctor." His people moved out, each in their own jog, asking where they could be the most effective.

The ten minutes passed by frightfully slow, or at least most of them, a steady stream of crewmembers were coming through the airlock, being processed by the doctor and his staff, and some being placed on stretchers. The Doctor bought all portable med equipment he could with him. He used this to revive one of the almost dead crewmen from the station, and then they got her to the med deck.

During that time though, as more and more people poured in through the open corridor between the station and the ship the hits and tremors got more intense, until they were nearly bone crushing in strength.

Captain Patterson was holding on for all he was worth to the railing manning the bridge, as one of his people were being taken to the med deck, using the shoulder of another for support. Both hobbling off.

"Time." He barked.

"Seven minutes forty eight seconds."

"I do not think they are going to last out for the last few minutes, we should go." Colonel James suggested standing near the chair.

"Alright, prepare to get under way. Full reverse." He ordered.

"Aye Captain, awaiting final order" The man currently at the helm said, as he moved his hands over his console typing the order into the helm.

Captain Patterson moved over to the chair and typed in a set of intercom commands. "Doctor, Captain of Marines, do you have anymore incoming?"

Down in the airlock a man and woman were coming in, both supporting each other, as an explosion rocked through the area that burst through the bulkhead behind them, the spreading fireball forcing them into the _Gandalf_.

"I'll check." Jose said as three marines went to go help the fallen couple.

He ran through the airlock and aboard the station, briefly checking to see that the corridor was empty, he was greeted by a fireball that forced him to arch back and around the corner back to his ship, running all the way, just to save his life. "Yeah bridge we have it, go go go!"

Patterson heard and then ordered to the helmsman, "You heard the man, full power, punch it."

"Sir," the helm said after typing in some of the controls for a bit. "The magnetic clamps are still locked and are too powerful for us. We are not going anywhere of yet. Plus it looks like that Cruiser has taken notice."

"Stand by G.O.D. cannons, range six hundred kilometers." James gave the order to the fire control team, they moved to punch it in.

"Keegan, can you send someone to take out the docking clamps for me?" Patterson said into the com. He got clicks back in acknowledgement.

A lone Starfury came in, decided it could not fit into the station the way it was going, so it under powered and then toggled two missiles at the berth, that hit them and caused them to be destroyed. The explosions ripped them to shreds. The fighter then launched a strafing run at the cruiser that was angling for the kill shot.

The _Gandalf _exploded out the other end of the station, its main cannons arching out to the far distant Centauri cruiser, causing a deep gash to be ripped open in the hull, not destroying but disabling.

The _Gandalf's_ Ion Cannons and Plasma Mortars went to work on the rest of the formation of cruisers, clearing a path for them as the fighters also launched on important missions of their own.

"Sir, a target is baring right across our bows, distance reads less then fifty kilometers for impact."

James smiled, "Bring both Railguns on line and stand by to fire, I have been waiting to use these things."

The _Gandalf_ maneuvered just a bit, aligning itself so that it was a little crooked in space, listing slightly to starboard, as the two big cannons came online. They loaded themselves and pointed themselves at the enemy ship, going into long range burst salvo fire. And still the cruiser came.

The cannons exploded into long gouts of flame and energy, hurtling the hard and massive objects toward their final destination. They tore into the target, ripping its hull to shreds, and moving straight on, tearing out large sections of hull and other vital systems. Just eight of those massive shells caused such massive damage at only thirty kilometers. Multiple breaches were torn in the cruiser's hull, she was venting atmosphere, and was not heavily listing, her drive tanks were punctured beyond repair. And still the _Gandalf_ came.

She unleashed long gouts of ions and plasma, finishing the Cruiser off in dust and pulverized atoms. Her fighters formed up on her as she started to take fire from three additional Cruisers that were trying to cut her off, she responded in kind just barely keeping them at bay.

Five shuttles left the docking bay of the station, each one coming on hard, bearing down on their only possible means of escape left open to them. The _Gandalf_. The Earth Alliance Destroyer had to maintain its defensive fire long enough to let the shuttles slowly pass.

"Helm, can we keep a jump point open just long enough in order to get all of the transport shuttles through, the fighters, and then ourselves?"

"Yes sir, there is a high degree of success to that plan. We will have to cut power from the emergency reactors to keep the point stable but I really do not see any reason why we cannot do this." The helm asked looking up at Captain Patterson who was leaning down on them.

"Alright, do it at your discretion." Patterson nodded, and then returned to the center of the bridge.

"Alright, jumping….NOW!" The helm said transferring power and then surging it at just the appropriate time in order to create a stable vortex into the hyperspace.

The yellow vortex surged into existence, forming just above the Destroyer, nearly taking its antennae off for long range communications. The _Gandalf_ fired its maneuvering thrusters, taking up position just in front of it.

"Sir, those three Cruisers continue to bare down on our position."

"Adjust all weapons to compensate, keep them back, defensive fire only. Give us some additional power to the E-Web defense matrix." Captain Patterson ordered, getting nods and quick compliance in return.

"Sir the shuttles are away, the fighters are racing to move through the jump point, but some of them are trapped behind the cruisers, they are moving quickly though. No survivors from the station defense squadrons." Sensors reported.

"Damn that's a shame." Norman muttered under his mouth almost incoherently.

The fighters quickly escaped their traps though, and sped on through into hyperspace, the _Gandalf _went into over drive, leaping into the vortex it created with the Centauri cruisers bearing down on them. They then retrieved their fighter squadrons, and then went at full burn to the nearest location that they could, just making distance between them and any potential pursuit.

About an hour later when they were sure that nothing was following them, and after they tallied the damage and the dead. They stopped the vessel and rested within a hyperspace pocket that was slightly off the beaten path in between the empires. The entire senior staff was in the conference room, an event that Patterson had trouble believing in, it was the first one in the commissioning of the new Destroyer.

"We took some pretty minor damage, and was able to get out of there easily…again." Stacia was just finishing her report, she was leaning over the table her fingers stepped looking around the entire assembled mass of officers. She had an odd mixture of glumness and excitement warring on her features, all the while trying to show the solemnity of an Earth Alliance chief of engineering on one of her premier warships.

Patterson nodded. He then looked down at Keegan, who was uncustimarily sitting right next to Stacia on, her right side. That was not where he was supposed to be, but it was not strictly unusual either, it was not like there was a set seating chart.

Keegan barreled ahead without so much as a throat clear, something else that drew Patterson's attention. "Alpha 7 was knocked out by a pair of Centauri fighters in the battle, I had to tow him back on board, the pilot is fine. But the Fury is totaled for the moment. The problem is we did not get a complete resupply from the Station before we had to leave, and before it came under attack. Therefor, we are extremely lacking in spare parts for our Starfury squadrons. The next time we get a major chance to resupply we have to put in a requisition for more parts. This is a matter of course. And the main depots currently are in the Sol system. Our Thunderbolts, though, do have a small re supply left, but other then fighter fuel we are almost out."

This was followed by a contemplative and solemn silence, Patterson looked around the table at his seat from the head of the table. "So, anything else to report from anyone, be free to add anything?"

James Norman did a good job as first officer glancing around the table at the assembled crew that was there. When he took a tally of all the officers he dutifully reported "no sir."

Patterson was about to order them relieved, when Keegan shifted in his seat a bit uncomfortable and nervously raised his hand, while asking. "I do have something to ask though."

Patterson waitied for him to continue.

"Why that station, it does seem to be even more foolish then their attacks on the Narn, it is not near anything, and not really much of a military objective. Only because we were there, or what?"

Patterson smiled, and then stretched back in his chair. "Actually it is very vital to the defense of some of the outer colonies. Sure it is not a great staging area, or much of a place to use as a base of operations, and it was not really threatening anything in terms of offensive attack. The reason though is that the Centauri chose this place to attack right here, and right now because it has powerful sensors that can keep an eye on their movements. Without it, we are blind and they can move a fleet in almost at will. It also puts them in a position to strike at several key colonies all along the border, the nearest being the mining scientific community on RW3. It is just seven light years from here. Another possible reason, though I do not know if the Centauri are aware of this, but due to the positioning of the fleet, it is also the shortest and most strategic place in order to make a strike on Earth."

A disturbed silence filed into the room at that moment. But the crew quickly changed themselves into a rigid sort of determination, all of them setting their jaws and scowling at the universe.

"So," Captain Patterson continued, "it is imperative we warn the fleet, and since RW3 has become hot property due to their invasion, we need to set a course for it, maximum burn please. We then warn the rest of the fleet." He looked around getting a series of determined nods. "Alright, lets get to work, dismissed."

They snapped to attention and then scrambled out, leaving Captain Patterson alone at the center of the chair. His orders being carried out. He was pensive. He got up with a determined swagger, joining the crew on the bridge as the crew prepared to set off till the next adventure.

The _Gandalf_ accelerated smoothly and eagerly into that set point in the future, its teeth baring again, completely willing with machinelike power to throw itself once more into the fire.


	7. Edge of the Storm

Clouds whipped by his cockpit as he rocketed through the upper atmosphere, thousands of kilometers above the research outpost that was built through funding by Earth Gov and several small corporations that were interested in this sector. He was racing high above them, deep into the zone, engines whining at near full power, as he was getting ready for a dive into the well.

He tightened his hands over his stick, about to make the difficult turn, and felt like gulping; atmospheric maneuvering was rough even on the most steeled of Starfury warriors. He cut power down to seventy percent to his engines, just to be on the safe side, said a little prayer, and then jerked his stick over working the controls madly.

His jets on his fighter fired rolling over his fighter practically in mid air, almost impossibly, an alarm activated as he crashed into the side of his seat, and then his engines roared back to life and he dove.

He decided to ride out the storm, and let gravity do its work, he cut power to his main engines and cut his speed ever so slightly.

Michael Keegan was now in free fall, the G-Forces on his fighter forcing him up to his feet, keeping him pinned into the back of his seat. His fighter was dropping like a stone. About two thousand meters up he threaded power through the engines again, and used his retros to shed speed from his falling craft.

He leveled off at about fifty centimeters, bringing his fighter into a almost dead stop before engaging his main engines and then shooting back up, climbing twice as rapidly as he fell, as he caught a group of Centauri bombers off guard, he then went to work.

Colonel Norman and his Marine Captain were on the ground, walking lightly through a dirt path that cut in between the main station and a far off post, with only one main route in or out of the place to the space port. It was going to be difficult to get these people out.

But he had to try.

He was hefting a standard PPG rifle, an updated version of the Earth Force staple for over a half century now. Jose was lumbering along an M5885 heavy repeating sniper rifle, a powerful slug thrower that could reach out dependably and scour a target over nine hundred meters distance.

A roaring over-head caused the two men to look up, and they saw a pair of Raptor class Starfuries gently going by in the daylight, before revving their engines and rocketing off into battle.

They were there to keep the enemy off of the backs of the ground forces. They were assigned to stop the enemy fighters, bombers, and bricks from falling through the atmosphere and over running them, the latter carrying divisions of ground forces to swarm over the base and capture it for the Centauri. The Centauri had come in force this battle, this was no mere diversion.

In space a furious battle was beginning for the future of the inhabitance below, if the Earth Force task force failed, then the scientists below would be subject to death or imprisonment, as likely were their families.

The task force consisted of about thirty-two ships of almost every class, along with hundreds of Starfuries, doing battle against a Centauri task force many times the size of the Earth Alliance's.

An Earth Force _Centurion _class Dreadnaught, along with a pair of Delta Novas was slicing into the Centauri line of assault cruisers that were on the attack. They covered for each other, and provided crossfire for one another, the Nova's taking care of the fighter defense as the Centurion engaged in long range suppression fire of the enemy gun positions aligned against her, before slashing their attackers up into little tiny bits.

Starfuries were engaging all over the map, spinning out of the way, and in fireballs, attempting to engage anything that came close to the planet's atmosphere. Both sides were taking heavy casualties.

The _Gandalf _was in high orbit, forming a planetary blockade, her weapons firing on almost complete defensive as they shot bolts of energy out of the sky. They had one of their squadrons helping them out and then another pair of squadrons from the _Calypso_ that was parked in the battle somewhere. The _Gandalf_ also had a pair of Lupo frigates with them, helping and supporting their fields of fire, and doggedly defending this piece of sky from Centauri heavy drop ships.

On almost the opposite side of the planet a pair of _Nike_ class Battlecruisers, along with four _Vigilante _cutters, and another _Lupo_ frigate were engaging the heaviest thrust that the enemy was making against the planetary defenses. They were the ones that were leaking the most and letting ships though.

A nuclear explosion went off deep in space, ripping apart one Centauri heavy cruiser apart, and nearly destroying another pair. One of the Nike's adjusted her position slightly, and unleashed a storm of railgun shots, finishing off one of the two vessels. Thus stopping the first Centauri thrust dead in its tracks. Then they and the fighter squads with them went after the enemy ships that were surrounding them.

The _Calypso_ meanwhile was doing battle far and away from the planet, deep in a lane of gravity that separated the planet from one of its moons, and then finally out towards deep space. Without the old _Poseidon_ class Carrier there, the fleet would be in deep trouble. But her and her fighters were proving to be the deciding factor to the battle so far. Allowing the combined Earth Force fleet to keep the enemy at bay, and then shooting down all their fighters and drop ships. And also allowing the capitol ships enough room to really open up some holes in the enemy defenses.

Captain Patterson flat out scowled at the tactical display. He was leaning over a bridge railing hanging onto it as another light hit shook the fabric of the ship gently. He was only holding the rail as hard as he was out of frustration and bitterness, the only sign of those negative emotions as he forced them through his hands and into the metal.

He was staring at the tactical sensor display directly in front of his eyes, and the situation looked grim despite how well they were doing. The Centauri had sent in nearly a full battle fleet against their position, going to use this area as a staging area apparently. They had not expected to run into any resisistence, and were putting up a fierce fight as a result. However, most of their capitol ships, their Dreadnoughts, old Battle Cruisers, and defense cruisers, were hanging back, not engaging the Earth Alliance Forces. This left only wave after wave of ships to break themselves against the Earth Force lines, most of them succumbing to the firepower quickly, but others staying in there long enough to get a few good quality shots through. These were intercepted by the _Gandalf_ and her escorts, but every now and then a shot got through.

Patterson knew why they were doing it, they had underestimated the forces arrayed against them and did not want to risk their big bulk ships on a minor defense. As a result though they were getting slaughtered against the Earth Force Lines.

But Patterson knew this could not continue for much longer, that eventually they would get tired and begin to charge their lines. Right now they were staying just out of reach, well within extreme range for the _Gandalf's_ long-range particle cannons, and her ion guns, but out of effective range. Most of the shots the _Gandalf_ would fire would be intercepted long before they reached their targets, at least as the battle stood right now.

The only way that the ion bolts would stand a chance of getting through is if Patterson turned all nine of them on one target and fired. But they were a little busy fending off the gnats of the Centauri advanced fleet right now, and not even a long stream of pulses would get through the Centauri defense.

Patterson's frown deepened, his brows furrowing in slight concentration. All he had to do though was let his expert crew handle themselves in the line of fire.

This part of the job he really hated, he hated having to hand back for large amounts of time and just let his crew do their jobs. Because it was not really up to him to micromanage, and shout orders all the time, he could just give the assignments that he thought best at the time, and hope everything worked out. Allowing his crew to follow those orders, and then to improvise their own as they saw fit as the messages continued to go up and down the chain of command.

"Sir, long range engine scans reveal that the Centauri Capitol ship screens have begun to move, they are warming up their engines and are coming in."

Patterson arched his eyebrow at the crewman who announced this, his mind racing and souring. He was really hoping that the Centauri would give them a few more minutes in order to get the refugees out from the planet surface.

"Alright, lets realign us, bring us around and bring our main guns to bear on the lead vessels, fire on my mark." Patterson ordered, and then thought of something "and also tie us into the tactical computer onboard the Dreadnaught, we need to tie into them to see what they are doing in order to anticipate when we need to cover them. Get everything else in the air that we possibly can."

"Everything is already in the air."

Patterson sighed internally, then set his face in a grim mask. This was not going to get any easier.

Keegan twisted his control yoke around, shooting him up and over a Centauri missile that was launched at him. He saw it streak off toward space on his tactical display, then adjust to find a new target, he spun around brought his systems online and fired, taking it out long before it could reacquire him, or go after a new target.

He twisted around in his harness, observing the furball that he and a squadron of Thunderbolts were in. They were badly outnumbered, Centauri fighters going after him like flies to rotten meat, swarming and buzzing around him cautiously, looking like they were flying an odd race track pattern, being cautious.

He had no choice, he realized, he revved his engines up and made a sharp dive, pursuing a fighter that was trying, suddenly, to go evasive. He put a pair of bolts into its starboard wing, ripping it to shreds and causing it to spin out of control, slamming into the rocks below.

He continued on his course, the canyon walls filling his canopy view within seconds. He leveled off precisely and merged into the canyon, shooting into it at near full speed, he had to stifle a shocked gasp as his heart, and most of his other internal organs, felt like they were being slammed up through his neck.

He flashed on Stacia's face, and nearly shook his head to clear it, and then realized that both actions could get him killed. By the time he was able to concentrate he was getting onto another fighter that was sitting in front of him, hovering, he had to pull the trigger quickly, blindly destroying his prey and sending it to its fiery death.

He then had to twist and spin his fighter around, its engines roaring as it nearly crashed into the canyon wall.

Keegan had always hated atmospheric piloting, you had to worry about so much more doing this, and you were always so much more trapped in this kind of combat then in the stars far above.

He cursed to himself as suddenly his alarms screamed at him, as the swarm of fighters far above him launched a hail of missiles and ion bolts down at him. Two of the bolts hit him, causing his ship to jar significantly; he got it back under control and looked for a way out.

He saw one, then arched his eyebrows significantly as he ran an eye over his tactical scanner, and saw it clear on the other side.

He cursed again, the missiles were right on top of him. He spun his fighter around radically to port, saying another short prayer, as he rocketed into the cave, the twelve missiles lost him, and slammed into the cave, one even penetrating its depths to explode on the roof. He shot out the other side, the fireball expanding out just after him.

He glanced up to the ceiling of his cockpit, acquiring two fighters on his tactical net. He threaded his throttle and cut his speed drastically, bringing his fighter into a near hover, as he fired two missiles off the ejector racks. The surprised fighters tried to juke, but were torn to ribbons, a third one taking some damage.

He fired his thrusters lightly, bringing his speed up as the enemy fighters looked for him in retaliation for what he did to their squad mates. He skimmed the edge of the canyon, just barely staying ahead of it, but breathing calmly. He was now used to it, and was able to successfully navigate the rock face of the canyon, buying him a few extra seconds. His speed was less then Mach 1 though.

His warning alarms started to chirp at him again, as the sensitive passive scanners were sensing Centauri class scanner beams passing over his skin, trying to attain lock on. Keegan was not going to give them the satisfaction.

He gripped the throttle, and then rocketed forward, shooting out from the cliff that he was using to help hide his fighter. Ahead of him were two Centauri fighters, gliding into the canyon to try and intercept him.

He charged at him hard, launching himself into a power charge forward, his engines slightly roaring to life, using the sudden increase in power to jolt his fighter forward.

Keegan saw one of the Centauri fighters take a blind fire right at him, he cringed as his fighter took an obvious hit. His upper left wing display glowed showing where he had been hit; this launched his fighter down toward the rocky bottom, nearly causing him to crash into the dry river bed. He adjusted and raised his fighter again, going off the ground, and inverting. Two seconds and he was on top of his opponent, he fired simultaneously and the enemy exploded in a bright flash in front of him. Keegan blew right on through the debris storm at full power, and more warning alarms began to come to sudden life.

But he was not out of it yet, as he had to gently roll his fighter down to the deck again, going just below a charging enemy, he came up again reverting his fighter and charging at the wall, he initiated a direct spin, moving around 180 degrees back the way he came. His momentum nearly carried him into the rock face behind him, but his engines caught up and then roared against the rock mass, shooting him in pursuit of the enemy plane. He toggled a missile and fired it, it went into the fleeing fighter's engine housing, and this too was annihilated in mid air.

He then left the Canyon at near full speed, and accelerating rapidly. He was tired of this, and needed to get to space to rearm and refuel. He used full advantage of his stealth suite, deploying all of his systems, as he attempted to get back to the long night.

The gray floor rushed up to meet Patterson's forehead as he lost his balance and fell hard to the deck. A white nova exploded before his eyes as he connected with it hard, he must have gone out cold for a couple of seconds. The hit was still rattling through the structure of the ship. The lights were out, and the acrid smell of burnt circuits reached his nose. He registered that his vision was a bit blurry, and his mind sluggish. He shook his head hard, clearing both his vision and his mind, slowly working to determine what happened. They must have been hit by a Centauri heavy death pulse from one of their Dreadnoughts.

He glanced around his command center, and saw that the lights were indeed out, only the console displays were still working, and a strobe light at the back exit of his bridge. He looked left and saw two of his crew lolling in their chairs, their station darkened and cracked as it exploded in front of them, an orderly was checking them. He looked grim.

Finally, two more members of his crew noticed him and jogged over to assist him.

"How bad are you hurt?" the orderly of the group asked him full of concern.

He ran a short diagnostic; he seemed to be fine, though he tasted blood in his mouth and knew that his forehead was bleeding cause of the sharp pains. "I think I can hang in there."

His orderly ran an eye over him, smiled, nodded in acknowledgement, and then went on over back to his position.

Patterson stood up, glancing back at the destroyed crew station, and realized it to be the damage control station. A hull breach alarm was blaring throughout the ship though, letting him know that her skin was badly punctured. "Kill that alarm, I am sure the people who can do something about it already have." He ordered grimly. He then looked up at the main status board to see where the enemy ships were, "give me a full power burn from the main G.O.D. cannons, and target Dealta-5, along its neck if you would. Lets see how well they can hold up to our fire."

"Yes sir." The weapon controller barked before relaying a series of his own orders to the person manning the fire control station that was in charge of the main guns.

The helm also had to adjust its position ever so slightly, as the ship swung around directly, pointing bow on toward the enemy Dreadnaught. The latter attempted to maneuver out of the firing line, but was too slow and too bulky to do much of anything. Still they had a small chance to make it.

But not for long, a stream of ion pulses erupted from the main guns all along the _Gandalf_, four of them directly pointing at their query. This ripped the defenses down, draining them and impacting along the hull, compromising the larger ship's maneuverability. Against a ship so formidable every bit helped. The barrage also prevented them from launching a retaliatory strike, as the Centauri vessel had to reroute power.

Then the big guns on the _Warlock_ class destroyer opened up, two crimson particle beams split space into component parts as it shot through the vacuum, colliding with the Dreadnaught near perfectly amidships, ripping its hull apart, and causing explosive decompressions. But yet the Dreadnaught survived, albeit it was limping off in need of heavy repair, but it could still fly.

Even if the _Gandalf _ had the will to finish off her opponent, she could not have done it anyway. Two Vorchan class assault cruisers, and one Mirado jumped on top of the Earth force Destroyer, firing at it with all main guns, causing the _Gandalf_ to respond with an impressive barrage of defensive, and counter battery fire.

Patterson cursed to himself as the ship began to tremor violently and constantly, he knew that his hull plating was really beginning to buckle and take a strain. He knew what he had to do, but it took an extreme amount of will to order it, and he knew it left the people on the surface in an extremely vulnerable position, but he had no choice, he had to survive to fight another day. It just took him seeing a Lupo frigate disappearing on the sensor scopes to realize that he absolutely had to. He sighed deeply and put his orders into practice.

"Helm, take us out of here, readjust our orbit to a high standing position, set us directly over the planets northern pole region, about fifty thousand kilometers up should do the trick. Then prepare to defend, communications tell the Lupo the same thing."

"Yes sir." Said his helm team.

The ship powered forward, the Lupo heading out into deep space away from the battlefield, and toward the only operation jump gate in the entire area.

The _Gandalf_ was under a hail of yellow bolts of energy that was hitting mostly in the stern part of the ship, as their enemy tried to disable their opponent's engine system, and knock the _Gandalf _out of the fight. Perhaps even destroying her. The _Gandalf_ responded in kind though, forcing one of their harassers to fall back or be destroyed utterly.

Michael Keegan was right next to the _Gandalf_ as her engines began to move, and new order assignments were being routed for him to go to. He stayed close to his ship, about five hundred meters back, as he powered up to follow his home base up the well.

On the surface Colonel Norman, and his Marine Captain were standing on a dirt path outside the space port that they were using to evacuate the scientists and residents that it was their task to evacuate. Norman still had his rifle, this time locked and loaded. Jose was scanning the deep horizon around the winding path, looking for any interference, as the next group of refugees passed him on the right, heading up the path.

A line of Blue pulses passed just over his head on the left, barely intercepting his ear in mid flight, as it headed at a small knot of people, cutting most of them up badly. Jose got down into a crouch and snapped up his sights, bringing his weapon to bare on anything that he could see. It took him a few seconds to see the small wave of Centauri Royal Special Forces passing over part of the path just over the next ridge, perfect range for his weapon. He bought it up and began to poor fire onto his target, dropping a few of them, and causing others to falter.

Norman bought his weapon up and hipped fired at the enemy formation, causing them to scatter a bit, but it was a mostly ineffective strike at this range. Jose scowled at that, and glanced over to the colonel, before resuming his fire on the enemy position, cutting down three or four of them.

Then their coms beeped at them, and from what Jose could tell his entire squad too. Norman answered it, moving into a more concealed position behind a rock. Despite the growing din of battle, Jose could still make out the words.

"Norman here, what is happening Captain?"

Captain Patterson's voice came over the link, staticy to the extreme due to the weapon disruptions between the receiver and transceiver, but it was still perceivable. "James, you might want to hurry it up a little bit, the Centauri are moving into position with some really big guns, we have lost the high ground, trying to provide you with all the cover that we can." An explosion could be heard in the background emphasizing Patterson's next point. "But we are not going to last much longer, you have to get them out of there."

Norman looked up, glancing to the rear of his position, then to the front, estimating distances, and looking at his Marines who all had heard the message. Some of them looked a bit uncomfortable, being put on the block was not a step that many of the men under his command would like, he knew that his Captain would, his Captain preferred to do things from the scramble.

"We'll manage, James out." He said. He then brought his weapon up and started firing again at the much closer Centauri infantry formation.

"We need to hold them off for a few seconds, buy us some time, or we are never getting out of here." James said, this peaked Jose's interest, depending on what he would do would either break or make his career, or ruin Jose's respect for his superior, though it was already sliding.

Norman looked sky ward again, then crossed his hands, drawing his link up to his mouth, and activating a frequency. Jose had to reload.

"Marine squadron, target my position, there is some Centauri coming up the ridge at about five hundred meters from my current position, I need you to hit it, and cut it off, this will buy us the time to get the rest of the people out."

He got a series of clicks over the com, as Jose knew that they were calling in assignments to take out the Centauri contingent.

He had to look up for a second as a sonic boom interrupted his thinking, and his aim, causing him to misfire once, and then to look up in the sky. Two Thunderbolts were streaking in, cutting speed fast after their small burst to set up their own attack run.

Those two planes gently rolled in, confirming their target coordinates, and how they were going to eliminate it, then one of the T-Bolts snap rolled away, lining up on the formation, and launching a golden line directly into the heart of it, blowing it apart. Jose could hear screams over the explosions, and the escaping engines of the Thunderbolt.

Then on its heels the other one came swooping in, dropping two more small canisters before the enemy army. They exploded and a fireball expanded before his eyes instantly, the modern version of napalm. The heat wave reached the two men, and nearly caused Jose to stagger backwards.

"Thanks for the assist, you may have saved a lot of lives today."

"No problem, we are pulling out too, only some Raptors will be left for air defense, its beginning to get hairy up here, everything that is not a stealth is getting painted by sensor sweeps. Good hunting."

"Thanks, ground forces out." Norman waved as the Thunderbolt did a victory roll above them before rocketing space ward.

"That was close sir, good thinking." Jose said approvingly, but not trying to let it show, it could be complicated for him if he did do it.

"Yeah thanks, but it will only buy us a minute or two they will outflank our new lines, or they will clear them the old fashioned way, and we still have fighters to worry about." Jose nodded at the wisdom of this before setting his face into a grim grim mask. "Marines! To me, we will hold them right here, we must fight our rear guard action, we will slowly fall back, but we have to make sure all the survivors get onboard those shuttles, and then shuttle up ourselves. Take positions."

The Marines moved out between the two men's position, setting up what was likely to be a slaughter, for one side or the other.

In orbit the _Gandalf_ finally reached its position, then launched counter battery fire at two of the enemy ships still following them, the two assault cruisers broke off looking for reinforcements that would never come.

Patterson was continuing to lean back over the rail in his command center, glancing at all the controls, the room smelt acrid with smoke from the destroyed systems that were agitating and annoying his eyes. He was trying to see what the situation was, and it was beginning to look grim for their side.

One of the Centauri Dreadnaughts was beginning to sneak its way into orbit, around the place that the _Gandalf_ was at. Starfuries were buzzing around it trying to shoot it down.

There was a big bulge running down its right wing, pointing now at the planet surface. "Sensors, get me energy readings on that device right there on its starboard side." Patterson said pointing at the screen.

His scanners punched in the information on the station, seeming to go dreadfully slowly, as they bought up the information on the screen that their Captain requested. They relayed it to their controller who relayed it to Captain Patterson.

"Sir, detecting a large amount of energy in that device, it is building up exotic particles. Readings match the beam that destroyed the _Columbia_, and it looks like it is powering up for a firing sequence. I estimate around a minute."

Patterson narrowed his eyes dangerously, his ship was not in any shape to take that on, all he could hope to do was buy them time, unless of course. "Get me the surface"

His coms person nodded to him.

"Colonel Norman here, go."

"James, a Centauri killer is coming into orbit, of the type that destroyed the _Columbia_ at the beginning of the war, it is settling into orbit and will be ready to fire soon."

He heard Norman cuss to himself, then a pause as he was debated something. "How long do we have?"

"A matter of minutes sir." One of the people at tactical supplied.

"We do not have that long, we are not even launching yet, we are close, but not there."

"Well that takes care of that question; we will try and buy you a little time, _Gandalf_ out." Patterson singled to cut the feed as he debated himself what he was going to do.

"Helm, invert us completely around, point the Dorsal side of the ship down the gravity well toward the planet, maintain position. That has the greatest amount of our firepower, we will force them to reroute power to their defenses or risk being hit by our weapons."

"Aye sir, moving now."

The ship inverted its position, spinning around facing 'down' the gravity well toward the planet, all weapons on that side of the ship repositioned itself, pointing down at the Centauri warship.

Their weapons locked on to the ship, tracking the positioning of the enemy. Then they alighted, firing streams of particles at the target. As predicted the Centauuri ship was forced to take power from the pre fire sequence, and other critical systems, and then started to keep the Earth Force Destroyer's barrage away from their hull.

The Centauri then countered with their own bursts of energy from their guns, pointing 'up' at the Earth Force ship, which then launched its own intercepting fire to take out the bolts in mid flight.

The battle between the two ships quickly dissolved into a blinding spectacle of crisscrossing beams of light. Each intercepting the other, sometimes just before they could hit one of the ships, fighters moved in and out of the stream, and then stayed to one side not wanting to be shot down.

"This isn't working; we are not draining their power fast enough." Patterson frowned in frustration at his sensor screens. "Load nukes in tubes one-three, and stand by to launch on my order, also load ammo J-12 into the rail guns, we need all the defenses we can get."

"Loading Captain"

He waited as the railguns began adding their fire to the din of battle going on outside, causing the ship to shudder with each shot. Ammo J-12 shooting out at the enemy vessels, and then deployed toward the coming rounds, when they impacted with the bolts of energy they absorbed the energy and then blew up, taking out the bolt of ionic energy. Some of the energy leaked through, and continued on their way, to hit on the _Gandalf _hull, which absorbed the energy harmlessly.

"Set proximity fuses on the missiles, as soon as the Centauuri get a hard lock on them I want them to detonate, the EMP and the blast wave should be enough to give us that extra time, also the loss of their scanners. Arm only two of the missiles; let us hold one of them in reserve."

"Yes sir." One of the tacticians said, their hands racing over their console. "Awaiting final authorization from you sir."

Patterson went over to his chair, and took off his identi card from his neck, slamming it down in the card slot as a tone sounded letting know his identity was being read. When it was confirmed a button snapped open on his chair, he opened it, and slammed it home.

Two missiles exploded from their launchers, and went on their merry way toward the enemy ship, the ships sensors swung around detecting the launch and trying to get a bead on the missiles. If they hit they would likely rip the Dreadnaught in half from stem to stern, and it would take about three minutes to close the distance.

The scanners picked up the missiles at about a minute out, then targeting rays came on line and painted the incoming warheads. At that the explosive reaction detonated, causing a shockwave to form, ripping into the Centauri vessel, and also a surge of radiation which even penetrated the EMP hardened systems on the warship. This caused the weapon start up sequence to stutter, and their sensors to go blind, but that was about it, and the sensors were rapidly resetting themselves.

In the interim, the _Gandalf_ got in a few good hits from hits main ion guns, causing some damage to the outer hull, causing it to glow as ablative armor was shaved off in giant sheaths.

The Centauri ship was finally able to retaliate, bringing all of its sensors back online and firing everything she had. Four missiles shot out along her axis, and deployed toward the Destroyer, but they were intercepted by a long-range strike from a Thunderbolt.

Bolts of energy began to crisscross in mid space again, hitting one another and causing them to explode in bright novas of energy. Each group heading up slowly at the target, and then being intercepted by quick rays of energy from ships interceptors.

The _Gandalf_ got their rail cannons knocked out by a series of hits, while they fired, and two plasma bolts hit the Centauri ship causing some impressive damage.

Back on the surface the team had retreated back to the landing platform and Shuttle Park; shuttles were beginning lift off sequences, as the last of their crews and passengers made it on board.

James Norman fired another burst from his weapon; cutting down two Centauri, Jose was right behind him, covering his rear. He had to duck out of the way and behind some shipping crates, in a maze of passages and crates, as the Centauri had returned fire. A lot fewer of them then he had expected.

"We need to get out of here sir" The young Marine to his left said.

"Hold on, we can hold them off a little more, or we are all lunchmeat. But stand by to fall back on my command." Norman said placing his weapon over the boxes and firing sporadically, on his last stand.

"Yes sir." Jose responded, adding his PPG to the general din, he hit two of the Centauri soldiers.

A stream of them came over to the left, both Marines opened up on them nearly shoulder to shoulder. The Centauri then began a rapid retreat from the area, ambling over boxes and stuff as they scrambled to get away.

"What the hell?" Jose commented baffled.

"We need to get out of here, orbital bombardment!" James said as he remembered what he had forgotten in holding off the Centauri.

Jose snapped into movement early, his toned muscles rippling as he made off to a jog on the last freighter that was still prepping for launch. James huffed behind him, just managing to keep up.

Jose had to throw him down hard to the ground as a pulse of energy nearly intersected James's path, which would have brought an end to his glorious career.

"Thanks" He grunted still on the ground.

"No problem." Jose said hoisting his superior up as they made to board the freighter as its engines began to roar to life.

The two men entered the boarding ramp, which upon their arrival slammed shut. Jose made to strap himself in, after checking equipment and personnel all throughout the passenger compartment, while James went to the cockpit with the pilot.

"We need to get out of here!" James said sticking his head in between the two seats, and glancing between the two men manning their consoles.

"Three minutes for the engines to get going."

"I do not think we have that long"

"Well that is too bad, for we need that time to make sure the engines are warm, or we will not even make it above fifteen thousand feet, and crash brutally."

"Look, there is a Centauri warship in orbit of us, right now they are aligning a weapon that took out an Earth Force Destroyer in one shot, and they were no where near their max power. If we do not get out of here we won't."

"We won't either way, you cannot rush this, we just have to hope that your guys up there can hold them off for a little while, otherwise we are down for the count."

James tore his PPG free from its holster and charged it, pointing it skyward getting two shocked looks from the two men before him. "I will not hesitate to shoot you unless you get this tub moving, I will fly it out of here myself, this is on its lowest setting but at this range, who knows what it will do to the two of you."

"But-but you can't, we can't."

"Maybe if we injected some interstellar hydrogen into the system that would heat it up in a hurry." The co-pilot opined.

"OK, that could work, it will be a rough ride though, strap in colonel."

"Better rough then dead." James said retreating through the open hatch.

The ship rocketed off the ground, lifting slowly into the air. It turned slightly northward, and then powered into the sky. The old ship threatened to shake itself apart, a relic from the Minbari war, as it over powered into the sky.

Then the impossible happened, Norman had to gasp in shock, unrestrained, as the bolt of yellow plasma exploded before the warship, heading downward into the planets surface, causing a dust storm to be picked up.

The ship buffeted, and rocked, as it was hit by the expanding fireball, as they were pushed sky ward. It encompassed around the entire ship, nearly taking them out, radiation sensors and heat alarms went haywire.

The ship surged ahead, just managing to stay airborne as it went ever sky ward, opening up a huge lead, and then bursting through the upper atmosphere and into the midst of the raging battle.

"Sir they are away, all ships made it thus far!" An Ensign yelled in triumph, applause and cheers went around the nerve center, and Patterson let it happen for a few seconds before waving everyone silent.

"Alright, we are not out of this, prep the jump engines and head on out." Patterson ordered, getting people moving to prepare the ship for jump. "All fighters and shuttles, emergency combat landings are authorized." The communicator arched her eyes at him in some surprise.

"Yes sir." She then relayed his message to the pilots.

The Earth Destroyer broke orbit at that moment, heading slightly into deep space, laying down cover fire from all of its batteries as it went. Several shots got through though, staining the already weakened Shadow Tech armor, nearly causing a few hull breaches along the way.

The Shuttles landed along the hull of the ship, grappling on, nearly as many that could fit onto the ship as she was prepping for jump. The fighters took up defensive position around the mothership, adding onto the fire from the interceptors, and putting up a near solid wall of energy.

The freighter however had to dodge and juke through mid space, dodging fighters, and groups of ionic bolts, flinging themselves at distant starships trying to flee the area. The pilot was looking for a place to land his bird, so they could escape with the rest of the fleet.

The pilot nearly barrel rolled his vessel, spinning it evasively as he shot his vessel past two Centauri vessels, that did not seem to turn around and follow them.

The pilot shrugged it off, and then braced himself, as he threw his entire engine power into a burst. The ship shot forward, coming right at the Earth Alliance Dreadnought that was clearing the space around itself, in its own preparations to jump, and take on refugees.

The big freighter collided with the floor plating on the main hangar of the big ship, and then bounced a couple of times before coming to a final stop, in the end just small enough to fit in the belly of the beast.

"Sir, we have received a report from the flag, all ships are onboard we are clear and free to jump." One of the flight control officers said listening to his earpiece.

"Prepare to jump on my order." Captain Patterson said, evenly, despite the surge of relief that was swelling up within his chest.

"And, you may jump."

"Yes sir, jumping." The Ensign manning the helm said as the ship transitioned smoothly into the hyperspace, going at full speed in any direction that was not the research colony.

Stewart Albright was walking along one of the corridors of the _Gandalf_ with a distinctly determined gait, his face set in a grim mask. Around him were the refuse of humanity, the caste out, at least for the time being. Some were screaming in fury, others crying and holding onto loved ones, while still others were looking round in dazed confusion, trying to drink in their new circumstance.

But he ignored all of this that was not his job; he had to worry about more pressing concerns. He huffed and puffed as he fast walked down the hallway, nearly jogging, wishing that he could jog, almost grumbling all the way through. He knew what he had to do. This deck was converted into a refugee center, where all the personnel from the planet was just stuffed and gathered to try and be kept out of the way, but yet being able to be attended to. Albright wished they had a regular psychologist aboard.

He rounded a corner and still had to pause, despite his crusty exterior there were still times when this job still surprised him. He was now at the injury wing of the survivors. He grimaced to himself, and then cleared his throat while lowering his head, then he proceeded forward. He went up to one of his nurses who rattled off a quick status report, he nodded blankly at the words, before proceeding forward to pick a likely subject that he would need to work on first.

He bent down over a young woman, in her early twenties or so, and his heart did an odd throbbing. Mixed feelings welled inside him. Part of him warmed, but part of him grew cold in order to do his job and get things over with. He always swore to himself that this was going to be the last time, but something always drew him back, it was never enough to save people, it was the ones you lost that you remembered.

She stirred, and he reached out and caressed her cheek, blood getting on his hand slightly. He murmured words of encouragement at her, trying to calm her, she was obviously frightened and in pain. His usual steel of a soul was shattered, and pouring out for the world to see. But just as quickly as it opened, it closed in upon itself again. He barked at one of his orderlies who brought him a medical kit, he then got to work on the girl, and anyone else he could save, Marines with plasma burns, and people with all sorts of injuries.

Captain Patterson was sitting wearily in his chair, his eyes drooping slightly. His mind was screaming at him that this was not what he should be doing, nor that this was the way he should be feeling, that there might be something wrong. But yet, he could not help it, the _Gandalf_ was cursing by lazily in hyperspace. They were safe.

He glanced around his control center, and saw the damage in crystal clear reality, now that the lights were back up to full illumination. Or as full as they could ever be given that a few of them were knocked out and destroyed during the battle.

Pieces of debris from stations were strewn everywhere, consoles were burnt out, and black, this contrasted sharply with the brightness generated by the lights, making everything seem a bit solemn. Darkness obscured some areas of the command center, furthering the effect upon Patterson's mind; he tried to run another self check on himself and could simply find nothing wrong.

James Norman entered from the back, Patterson turned in his seat and saw him, he looked gray and dirty from combat, his vest still attached, but he gave his Captain a lopsided smile.

"Good to have you aboard Colonel." He croaked at his 2IC.

"Likewise Captain, whats our status?" The Colonel said with a lopsided grin, clearly glad he came through the fire.

"I am not yet sure, we seem to be fine." Patterson said, finally allowing himself a small jolt of consciousness as he moved to find out just what was wrong with his ship.

"Well perhaps we need to get on that sir."

Patterson nodded, and the two officers moved to make their rounds.

They were completed rather rapidly, and the senior staff was in the briefing room again, minus Doctor Albright who was joining them from sickbay. He looked especially grim and weary. They all were, this ship had continued to get the crap beat out of it of late.

"Well, where exactly are we?"

"Based on readings we are on the other side of the new boarder, we had to come out and get into enemy space in order to heave too as we figure out what to do, I do not know the exact position, we are a bit off the beacon and starting to drift again." Keegan reported sounding grim.

"Right, so we need to get back then." Patterson said determined.

"Right, but where do we go from here?" Stacia asked the assembled crowd, looking around.

"Well the obvious answer is Eath." Patterson said, and then continued as it seemed no one got the logic. "Soon Earth Force command will be issuing a general recall order across most of the Alliance, sending the ships they need to protect home world from attack. Both we and the Centauri know this though, so now is the only viable time they have to really win this war. They are going to go straight to Earth. The longer they delay, the more time we have to prepare and realize what their final destination is. They want to win this war, and they have shown us that they will go to any lengths to achieve this. Earth is the next obvious target."

"The loss of Earth on both the EA, and the ISA, will be devastating, damn near crippling. The Centauri move in." Jose said.

"But I am not sure that this is about the Galaxy, this is about revenge, plain and simple. Against the one power that has been able to thwart them in the past." Keegan said, volunteering information for the first time.

"They mean to wipe out the human race." Stacia said aghast.

"Exactly" Keegan said. "Look at their tactics, the waste of lives and resources, they are not doing this for some strategic or tactical advantage, they are just trying to take out as many of us as possible, and not carrying about their own lives is an excellent way to do it. I say we make a full burn for Earth."

"I agree," Norman started, "it makes the most sense from where I am sitting."

"Alright, on max burn we should be about four days out from the sol system, five tops. We need to hurry."

"The one thing that worries me is we took a fair bit of damage again over the research post."

"You are just going to have to fix it on the fly Commander Clarke, I am sure you can do it." Patterson ordered.

"Give me two days, and I will get us back into tip top shape."

"Alright, set a course for Earth." Patterson heaved a sigh, his whole body rippling, "ladies and gentlemen…we sail into the unknown fires of war, and the future, we fly to help save our home, I need each of you to be at your best. Dismissed." They filed out of the room, all in a single file line, again leaving Patterson to contemplate what he was going into.


	8. Galen's Battle

The _Gandalf_ was rocketing through space at flank speed, its engines pounding the hyperspace as they burned deeply into it.

Stacia Clarke was in the engineering section, she had on her sleeveless uniform shirt that she used as padding for her exercises, and it was steaming in here. The main temperature controls had failed because of the last Centauri attack, and they were far down her priority list to repair. Right now she was working on the main navigational controls, trying to boost power to the sensors and computer so they could stay locked on the beacon and cut a few hours off their trip.

She needed to bring it back up to full specs. She also had a team going over the battle armor, checking it and repairing it as best they could.

She ran over her diagnostic board, wiping her forehead in the process to keep sweat out of her eyes. The Captain had ordered a full burn right to Earth, at this rate she would have just enough time to complete the repairs necessary…she smiled whimsically, only to have it blown up and in need of repair again.

She heard the hatch leading to the lower decks iris open, glanced down curiously and saw Michael striding in.

"Whoa." He said upon entering. "This reminds me of my Dad's summer kitchen."

Stacia stared at him blearily, and then finally she shook her head clear, getting back to work by running a diagnostic tool over the piece of engine that she was near.

She then heard him climb the metal chain stairs leading up to the second level where she was at.

"How is it coming?" He asked curiously.

"Slowly…but we should be done soon, and just in time for us to get to Earth in another day."

"That's good" He said, sweat finally starting to break out on his forehead.

She was suddenly glad of his presence, suddenly glad that he came into give her a distraction from all of the many things she was doing, she was starting to get a bit overwhelmed by it all.

"How are the battle simulations coming?" She asked.

He frowned worried. "Not well, with the force that the Centauri are likely able to muster against us the odds do not favor us at all. Even if we arrive it just will not be enough, if the Centauri do what they are supposed to, only hope if the rest of the EA fleet or the ISA get there, and according to coms report, both fleets have been mobilized in part."

"Will we make it?" She said at him looking tired and worried.

"I honestly don't know. And with us racing off into the battle the way we are I do not have the time to go up in the squadrons and have the new sets really practice with one another, just briefings. Which I got another one to do in about five minutes."

"Fine, have fun."

"Uh…yeah sure, buckets of it I am sure." He said stalking off, looking a bit uncomfortable again.

She sighed and then started to get to work again.

Captain Patterson was wringing his hands on the bridge of his ship, pacing back and forth slightly. It was so frustrating going into battle and not really knowing what to expect when one got there, especially as it was the fate of your species that was on the line. But he could do nothing other then wait.

An orderly was attaching new light panels toward the back of the bridge, getting them back online, and tactical was coordinating with other repair teams, making sure that the weapons got online again. The Bridge was a bee hive of activity, but alas he could not do any of it himself, just receive status reports every now and then.

He was bored and anxious. The fate of his entire species was at stake, and there was nothing he could really do about it at the moment. Not knowing was the most difficult thing in the world. And the waiting, the transitioning from one extreme event to the other, hoping you could get there in time.

And there was his own personal stake in the matter, which caused him to pause and stare out the window in reflection.

James Norman stepped up behind him. "We are still about fifteen hours out." He said casually.

"I know James, we should not have waited as long as we did, I should have ordered an immediate burn, this is just so frustrating."

"We will get there when we get there, unless there is something else on your mind?"

Patterson sighed to himself deeply. "Oh you know there is."

James let himself go down into silence for a few moments as he absorbed this. "You know, when we get there you should probably go see them."

"Too much to do once we get there, fending off am interstellar armada tends to dry up ones time after all." He said with a wry smile.

"If we have the time to make, you will make it I am sure." James said wisely, Patterson gave his first officer an odd look.

"Why not" Patterson mumbled, contemplating that grim fact of life as the ship continued to lurch forward into the vortex.

He grunted to himself then made a fluid motion over to operations. "Status" He ordered.

"We are still about a day out sir, no word yet from Earth other then the general recall order a little while ago. Engineering reports that they are up to about 60% armor recharged, and most of the critical internal systems are repaired. Med Bay just discharged their last wounded member of the crew ten minutes ago, and Doctor Albright is in the process of cataloging what we have for future reference."

"Thank you Ensign" He said, then he returned to his seat, plopping himself down in it, and then he crossed his legs.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the dawn." Norman said brooding.

"May it not be our last." Patterson agreed with less enthusiasm then he should mutter under the circumstances.

"Agreed." A crewman said in the back of the bridge, Norman frowned, Patterson smiled at that though. He liked his crew.

He just hoped that it would not be the last time that they would get to be together before hurtling off into another fire, too many of them had died already on this perilous command. This bitter tour of duty that he had placed himself into, he had no one else to blame but himself.

It was his responsibility to keep his crew safe, to lead them through the darkness and the light, the candle and the star, no one else had this enormous responsibility.

He came to a decision with the finality that he came to this decision the eight times since they left the research colony.

"We need to run another battle simulation." He announced.

"Another one sir, we have run eight in the last while?" The Ensign manning ops asked boldly and curiously.

"There might be a too fine point to something." Norman ventured.

"We are no where near that point yet Colonel; there are still so many scenarios to be run, schedule it for ten minutes."

"Yes sir." Norman said. It was his unique position; he just realized with an uncomfortable start, to be the ultimate balancer. To balance out his military need for drill and regularity with the needs of the crew, he knew that this was not going to make Stacia a happy girl. But that was irrelevant in the long run.

In the end the simulation went off without a hitch, nearly perfect. Fending off a long term siege while massively outnumbered, it probably helped that the crew did have real world experience. But not in a guerilla war type setting that the Sim called for.

Still the situations were similar enough that the crew used their experience and knowledge and translated them over to come away with a near flawless record. They were almost ready to defend their home.

Of course no one _knew_ how they were going to react in such a situation until they were presented with it. Especially this one, they were fighting for their home. The right for their species to continue to exist and play a roll in the interstellar community, for all that was worth, and all the pain that came with it.

Sixty Four Percent of the Crew was from Earth.

Over eighty from the Solar System, even a mixture of "Marsies" were in amongst the crew.

And there was not one amongst them that was not a human that did not have all the trappings and flaws, and grandeur that came with the species. And they would be fighting for the cradle of their civilization, the birthplace of keys and nexuses, scarce few humans could contemplate the roll they had played on the stage. Only others knew. Others on distant worlds, grateful to humanity for all it had done. And condemning for all of its sins.

This is what they were fighting for, one of the only things worth fighting for. The right to continue to live, just live, to make of your life and of the universe what you will, and to live free and justly, without the overburdened strains of governments or of the threat of alien invasion.

After all that is why the military existed in the first place, this was always their jobs, to defend humanity, no matter the pain no matter the blood and no matter the cost. To defend humanity against all of its foes, both foreign and domestic.

It is never the roll of this military to be an instrument of the government to be used on the people, never an instrument of oppression, only an instrument of freedom, to keep men free and to try and free others who did not have that voice nor that right. Though sadly they had been used too many times as an instrument of great evil, once was already a thousand times too often. And they had to clean house, under the leadership of those like John Sheridan and Mathew Gideon, to be there for the people.

This was a sacred honor, and a sacred duty. Passed down by civilizations of old with the same desire, and the same yearning, a yearning to be free, to live their lives in a peaceful world.

The _Gandalf_ surged, entering the outer solar system, their home, their engines lightly revving as they were getting ready to transition back into normal space.

The coms console on the bridge started to beep, drawing the attention of everyone that was on the bridge at the time, Patterson looked over as the crewman listened intently to her ear piece.

"Sir, message from a ship that is near the Io relay station, it sounds like a standard distress signal."

Patterson's stomach knotted up, but his face remained passive as he waved for the young woman to put it on the Bridge speakers.

"This is the EAS _Morgan Le Fey_ calling any other ships in the local area, we were jumped by a battle squadron of Centauri Vorchan class cruisers and require immediate assistance. Just us and an Omega were on station, we have taken massive damage so far, hull breaches on multiple levels, does anyone hear me?"

Patterson scowled to himself before making up his mind. "Battlestations! Set condition one throughout the ship, charge weapons and prepare the outer armor, load all rail guns and prepare for close in fighting."

The crew made to follow his orders, as they all got ready for the battle ahead.

Stacia looked up from her work just as the alarm klaxons began to sound, she could not believe this, and they were not the nice and quiet ones of yet another battle drill either. She stormed over to one of the com relays and slammed down on the button. "Bridge, what is going on?"

"Sorry Stacia, we received a distress call from Io, they are under attack and need our assistance."

Her hands turned pale as she gripped the panel too hard. "Affirmative, just don't break her too much."

"I will do my best, Patterson out."

"And I just got her fixed too!" She threw her hands up in exasperation and then sighed. "Alright everyone, we have jobs to do, spread out on damage control duty and bolt everything down, we need to make sure that we do not take too much damage this time." Her officers nodded as they all got to work.

"Weapons, set interceptors for a wider dispersal pattern," Patterson ordered.

"Purpose being?"

"We need to let the bigger bolts and bursts to be stopped, those should be the ones that we worry about in our condition, if we worry about all of them we will just wear out our interceptors and defenses, we need a way to stop them swiftly, letting some of the lighter shots through…our armor should be able to hold up to that for awhile."

"Yes sir" The weapons nodded as he began to make the adjustments.

Colonel Norman stepped up behind him. "All sections reporting locked down and ready for action, we are ready to engage the enemy."

"Thank you Colonel, Navigation, proceed at will. Jump when you are ready."

"Arriving at transfer point in 3….2…..1…." The power to the jump engines surged as the ship opened a jump point, transitioning back into normal space….

Into the raging inferno, the battle was raging full force by the time they arrived on the scene.

A Starfury exploded in mid space, twirling in on itself in one fireball, another spinning around on its retros and firing, clipping a Centauri fighter as it spun off in the distance on fire. Another fighter shot at the still turning Fury, destroying one of its engines and causing it to spin and hit one of the cruisers. Two Starfuries were fleeing from a group of fighters, one exploded and the other had to try and rocket out of the way, though it was eventually destroyed.

The Warlock Class Heavy Destroyer exploded off in the distance, its defenses just plain overwhelmed by the number of targets that it had to face.

The _Gandalf_ though got the ship that got its sister, ripping it in two with its two heavy particle beams, destroying it almost instantly, the _Gandalf _itself was beginning to take heavy fire from a pair of cruisers, it countered with its own Ion batteries, both sides scoring some impressive hits on one another's hull plating. The _Gandalf_ then launched the rest of her fighters, as the battle continued to rage all around her.

On the bridge the officers had to brace their hands against the control panel as hit after hit after hit rocked through the ship and caused multiple breaches in the hull, their interceptors just were not enough to be facing two Centauri cruisers. They were beginning to buckle and they needed help, they were responding ferociously with counter battery fire, landing some good hits themselves, they were within 200 kilometers.

"Sir, we are beginning to take massive damage." One of the ops officers said turning around in his seat, screaming over the din of the battle.

"I think it would be a good time for some nukes." James Norman said crossing over to stand beside his captain.

"I know James, but with their defenses the way they are, we will be lucky if we are able to get through that wicked cross fire, and I doubt we could get a nuke in there."

"Sir, message coming in from Keegan." The flight control officer said suddenly from the back of the bridge, catching his Captain's attention.

"Put him on." Patterson said gruffly, keeping the annoyance out of his voice.

"Sir, it's obvious, we need nukes for this or we are dead, we simply cannot survive long enough to affect the enemy without them."

"Your point?" James spoke up.

"Sir, let us escort the nukes in, I think we can do it, have Delta and Alpha Squadrons escort the bombs in."

"It's risky." James observed.

"Do we have a choice?" Patterson asked.

"No" Keegan answered.

"OK, fire control, alight six of the nukes launch pens, two decoys and four fully armed. Have the decoys give out more radiation, which should be enough to confuse them that extra bit. Set fuses for proximity, five kilometers distance from the main targets, EMP dispersal to the max."

"Yes sir!" the officer said just as another hit rocked the ship greatly, causing the ceiling to spark slightly.

The tubes deployed spewing the long cylinders of the missiles as they exploded to the targets, the Starfuries got in line, Alpha acting as interceptors, and the Marine fliers making advanced strafing runs on the enemy ship, losing several fighters in the process, but most of the pilots and their EWOs bailing out to fight another day.

The bombs exploded exactly like they should, ripping two of the primary cruisers apart, taking care of a third recon vessel, and the shockwave slammed into a Morado class cruiser, causing massive damage.

The ships sensors failed, and by the time they had the chance of getting them online, the _Gandalf_ had pounced on the enemy ship quite quickly, hitting it hard with multiple blasts from their main railguns, ripping the ship to shreds. The _Gandalf_ then turned on its heels and blasted towards the final engagement going on, the one between the Earth Force Omega and another couple of cruisers. The main station was now secured so this was the only battle that they had to worry about.

The Omega was trying to defend herself doggedly from her aggressors, just hopefully hanging on long enough for someone to come to their aid.

It did.

The _Gandalf _swooped in high from the other side of the battle, firing its G.O.D. cannons at extremely close range, ripping one of the cruisers to shreds and actually damaging another, then its Ion Cannons got to work slamming into the other two cruisers causing their defenses to be stripped away in one solid blast, this was followed up by blasts from the main railguns, which swept away the twin cruisers before they could make their retreat.

"Thanks for the save" The Omega's commander said over the speakers.

"You are welcome, we will stay in escort position until we can get you into space dock, and if you are jump capable I suggest you use it."

"Affirmative, we are." The Commander said and then signing off, obviously too tied up with getting his ship under way then with appropriate decorum.

The larger Warlock settled into position off the port bow of her sister, protecting her as she made the jump to hyperspace, the _Gandalf_ then made her own jump into the hyperspace, heading off for Earth to debrief and report in.

Several moments later the ship was in orbit around the lunar colony, waiting to receive her orders from the EA command structure. More and more ships were arriving by the hour, to take up defense of their home world. The area of responsibilities were changing almost constantly.

General Baker was on the screen. "Scott, you will join up with your normal battle squadron and fleet assignments, you will be the emergency flag ship in case the primary one falls in battle, you will take your orders…especially your fighters…from group 12 command. We do not know at this time how many ships will be with you joining the fight, but Group 12 is the last one, so it may not be all that many, right now we only have five others including the flag ship of the group. I understand though you have taken some damage?"

Patterson got up and jolted his uniform into position. "Yes, we have. We never got our battle damage sorted out in the first place, and we need some basic over hauls, we have been in combat since the beginning of the war."

"I see, well then, you should be fine in docking berth 12. It should take about an hour, and then get on out, other ships are waiting for the chance."

"Understood," The com panel blinked out. "Helm, go to docking berth 12, set course for the beacon, and then turn the control over to the dock master."

"Aye aye sir." The Helm said, and then he punched in the buttons on the control panel completing the order.

The ship docked in the birth, and that was the end, until the war would be declared again, and the storm began.

All they had left to do, was await the dawn.


	9. Battle of Home

The sun came up, slowly shining its way across the gathering fleet, slowly alighting each one of the ships. A truly magnificent and meaningful site for the start of a war.

The Ships themselves were already a bee hive of activity, preparing themselves for battle. Breaking out PPG rifles and checking charges, taking on supplies and ordinance, running scans over critical systems and shoring up armor, all the while fleet command gave them more and more to do.

They were there as the line in the sand, standing between Earth and the storm that was facing it once again.

Multiple times in human history had an enemy made it this far, right to the gates of humanity herself, her birth place and the cradle of all that she stood for. Multiple times humanity had faced annihilation at the hands of a foreign nemesis, and each time they had been stopped but at a tremendous cost in both lives and resources.

They had succeeded though, had held the line and let no race had really come within range to kill it. Other then the Draque incident they had not let anyone through, though they had been extremely lucky in the past.

And now they had to do it again, this time against the Centauri war machine.

Minbari, Centauri, Draque and members of their own species had fought in the space lanes around Earth, it remained one of the most contested planets in the Galaxy, having to hold off hordes of alien ships in order to continue to exist at all. Many died in the stars above Earth, maintaining the sacred honor that they shared them for others…so that they may live free. And live free they continued to do.

On the _Gandalf_ the situation was much the same as it was in the rest of the fleet, they were bracing themselves for the onslaught, for the siege. And like the fleet at whole they had very few ability to prevent the storm for reaching, supplies were tight and they were getting the bottom of the barrel. But Stacia and the rest were doing their jobs, making the last moment repairs and making sure everything was in tip top shape.

Patterson and the command staff were going over battle strategies and making sure that everything was properly coordinated with all of the other systems.

Michael Keegan was in the briefing flight room, going over with an Earth Force Major on what they were likely to face, and their jobs in a certain set number of scenarios. He personally did not like it, taking orders from a panicked military brass like this, but at least he had over all command of his air wing.

The Marines were changing into their tactical gear, and strapping on their extra equipment, and grabbing PPGs and rifles off the racks with two extra caps for each.

CPO Anders was overseeing the storage and deployment of new Thunderbolts, Raptors, and even a few new Aurora's to fill out their air wing, as an orderly was seeing to the needs of the new group of pilots that were coming on board, some of them were Earth Air National Guard.

Other then that there was nothing to do but wait, and fortunately that was not for long either.

Scott Patterson was sitting in his command chair, blithely going over the tactical reports for the day again, and the deployment grids for their fighters and their nukes, everything was running almost up to factory new specs. Which was unsatisfactory because they would need to run way beyond factory specs if they had a hope in hell of surviving this, but it was the best they could do, he sighed deeply.

Then he turned and his head snapped up to the back of the bridge as a jump warning alarm went off in the back of the bridge. An orderly was there and she went over to check the instrumentation. "Flash warning detected, jump point disturbances detected around the moon, 100 +, Earth Force mid range warming alarms look like there are 244 ships on their way incoming."

"Verify that." Patterson barked turning around to face the front of the bridge.

"Yes sir. Two hundred and forty four plus support ships."

"What do you think, recon in force?" Norman asked coming over.

"Probably, they just want to see what we are made of." Patterson looked grim.

"Want to oblige them?" Norman said with a crooked grin.

"Colonel, be my guest." Patterson said with a vicious predatory grin. Then he slammed in his chair bringing it around again and started barking orders as it span "Action staions! Set condition one throughout the ship, set defense batteries on maximum dispersal, open up all offensive turrets, load rail guns and launch the fighters"

A warning klaxon blared throughout the ship, while a young officer repeated his orders into his com phone. "Action stations, actions stations, set condition one throughout the ship, pilots man your planes, I repeat, pilots man your planes."

Upon hearing that Keegan bursted into the still gathering flight deck as they were making final preparations, he looked around and then ran over to his fighter.

"Chief, how's it going?" He said greeting Anders.

"Good sir, the ships are ready for launch, all fueled up and maxed out on anti fighter ordinance."

"Good good, any problems?"

"None to report sir," Anders said dryly.

Keegan just smirked and then shot him off a salute as he closed his hatch with an electronic whir and then punched in all of his flight controls warming his fighter up to full.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, follow me out and then punch it, stand by for orders from fleet command." Keegan said into his intercom as he rocketed his ship into space and got in formation with the rest of his fighters.

His computer on his fighter interrupted his train of thought with a message: "Stand by for orders from group twelve command." He looked out of his cockpit and he could just barely notice the large scale efflux of the ion propulsion systems of the Centauri battlewagons so many thousands of kilometers away, it was an eerily beautiful sight.

Static and then a voice snapped his attention back to the inside of his bird. "Attention, group twelve fighters, this is Major Danielle Sergent, those big birds are spilling and raining fighters, a huge section of them are heading inbound to the Earth orbital platforms, that's you, protect them at all costs." The message terminated.

Keegan keyed his flight mike. "Alright, Charlie and Delta flights, remain behind, stick with the _Gandalf_ no matter what, you are our back up. Alpha and Beta we will proceed to the designated habitats and provide top cover for them."

"Sir they did order all of us to go and orbit the platforms and provide cover." The Marine squadron commander advised.

"And that is what we are doing, but I would rather eat lead at an execution then leave the _Gandalf _naked, you have your orders, now move your butt."

"Yes sir." He could practically hear the humor resonating through the open frequency.

"Alright, Alpha and Beta, let us make tracks, we have a lot of space to cover before we are in position and those fighters are not going to wait for us to show up." He said jerking his throttle forward and sending her into a free fire burn.

"Sir," James Norman started stepping over to his commander and reading a report, "the Centauri are now mobilized and are coming in pretty cautiously in standard assault formation, about one third speed, they are sending in their fighters well in advance of their units, reports indicate that fighting has already began around the Lunar bases, group ten is there and is under heavy fire. Groups two and five are moving to reinforce but it does not look hopeful."

Patterson sighed again. "They are stringing our forces out all over the place, we are not going to be able to hold up when their main force gets here. But we do not have much of a choice." He then went over to helm. "Navigation, lay in a course for habitat five, and then proceed there at full burn, take us right above the habitat, but between it and the defense platform, I want our defenses to mesh with the habitats and then the Defense platform creating a three way triangle of death. That should work." He then returned to the chair as his orders were relayed.

The _Gandalf _glided into position slowly and precisely, as she turned to face the wave of ships, her defensive batteries coming to life ripping whole squadrons to shreds.

The lead elements of the Centauri invasion force ran into the wall of the first line of defense for Earth Force, Assault Vectors and Centurion Class Dreadnaughts opened up with everything they had, blanketing space with counter battery fire at point blank range and clearing space of the fire of the Centauri, the tightly packed mass of ships, as their main offensive weapons returned fire with perfect and deadly precision, wiping out many Centauri vessels in the process, as the fighters buzzed around each other trying to gain the upper hand.

The _Gandalf_ added her own weight to the fire, firing her G.O.D. cannons at the precise instant that they crossed through the first lines of defense, hitting them hard along their neck, but not quite destroying them, causing explosive decompression along its outer hull, but they were still technically in the fight.

But two Lupos quickly dispatched that little problem taking care of them with bursts and blasts from their main guns, sweeping away the Mirado, they then had to turn their main guns on the fighter force that was pouring in through the open wounds, getting most of them before being annihilated themselves.

But for the moment the Earth Force Defenses were holding up really well, mainly their fighter forces.

"Sir, we seemed to have stopped their main advance for the moment, forty plus ships have been destroyed or disabled to only six or so of ours, reports are still coming in- AH!" A enlisted man reported before having to hide his face as a light above him exploded in a shower of sparks, causing the bridge to smoke slightly.

"Keep up fire, they are still coming, redouble our efforts and redirect fire to sector two." Patterson ordered to the gunners before having to hold onto a rail as another hit rocked the ship.

"Sir, more jump points opening in the void between the moon and Earth! Multiple ships exiting and entering the combat area."

"How many?" Patterson asked nervously.

"Over four hundred plus, including seven of those dreadnaughts."

"Great."

Another hit rocked through the fabric of the ship, causing the lights to flicker for a second with an electric whir. Patterson checked the display and saw that the lines were darn near saturated with enemy contacts pouring over it and into the perimeter. Defense satellites were getting ripped apart by full squadrons of fighters.

"Navigation, take us out of this position, I imagine group twelve command is about to reassign us anyways, we have lost the high ground, if we stay we are going to get ripped to tatters. We will do a better job in a better position, have all batteries cover our escape with defensive fire, all ahead flank." He ordered as yet another hit caught his ship amidships.

Michael Keegan spun his fighter around on its axis, along with two other Raptors as they went to go meet the approaching storm of enemy fighters that was about to ram into them at full throttle, he pivoted and threw his weapons on full burst, firing into the tightly packed mass gutting it in half.

"Sir our fusion batteries are starting to look a bit low."

"Roger that Alpha 5" He said to the pilot next to him, frustrated that he could not do more. But four hours was enough for them right now and they were running out of power. "Let us get back to one of these bases, they will have a higher turn around rate and I bet they are in a better position then the _Gandalf_ is in this mess anyways…wherever she is."

"Yes sir."

The two pilots broke for mid orbit, going down the gravity well until they found a defense fighter depot that took them on.

"Sir, looks like the enemy is forming a flying wedge of ships, cruisers and Battlecruisers are flying heavy protection for those dreadnaughts, looks as though they are going to get to Earth no matter the cost. And it looks as though they are succeeding, they have penetrated our lines and are beginning to enter optimum firing range, the _Texas_ and the _Tillman_ are both tied up on the other side of the planet and are taking heavy fire, Earth Force has ordered them to come in on the assist." A coms officer said on the back of the bridge yelling over the sound of battle going on in the background.

"Very well," Patterson said frustrated, wanting to slam his hand into the holo graphic projector in the back of the bridge showing the advancing tide, and the disappearing blips representing ships of all sides.

"Sir, grid one eight," an officer said pointing at the screen "looks like a hole has been opened in their lines that we can exploit!"

Patterson highlighted the appropriate grid. "We have to get in there." He said snapping, pointing his figure where two dreadnaughts and their escorts were slowly plodding their way to their targets.

"The cross fire is going to be vicious." Norman said concerned.

"We are the only ship in range, we have to take this chance. Ensign set a course!" He barked at helm, he instantly complied.

The _Gandalf_ lurched forward suddenly, belching long bursts of ionic flame from her main and defensive batteries, alighting space all around her in explosions, and intercepted bursts of energy.

Buy many got through, explosions and ripples of energy lit the Destroyer's hull, causing the men inside to be bounced around all over the place. Forcing them to hold on for dear life, systems went off line and men were rushed to the infirmary.

"This isn't working!" Norman said over the din.

"I agree Colonel" Patterson stated. "Helm, set a course away from the picket line, tactical, shut down all radiating systems and go to complete stealth mode. Lets hit them where it counts, getting within point blank range, and then hit them with everything we got. Helm, give us a countdown starting at ten thousand meters."

"Yes sir," was chorused back.

The _Gandalf _turned and then disappeared from the scopes of the Centauri, who immediately went full active with all of their scanners trying to reacquire lock on, which just let the ship know where they were so they could avoid most of it.

All the while the battle continued to rage around them. Hundreds of ships were still locked in mortal combat with one another, fighting and dying in order to gain some sense of superiority over the battlefield and the space around them. Slowly the Earth Alliance was being pushed back. Lupos were busy engaging enemy targets, a Warlock flipped up on its end over and exploded brilliantly. A few Nike's lost their engines and were torn up piece meal by their Centauri equivalents. Losing one ship in the process as well, the Earth Alliance was still holding at nearly a three to one clip though of losses, but it just wasn't enough. The survivors were being herded at Earth and shot down, dying, getting closer and closer to the inevitable end.

Fighters danced in and out of formation, being snuffed out like candles. And through it all, one lucky Destroyer glided to its fate.

"Sir we are now within ten thousand Meters." An officer near the helm said, trying not to cough around all the smoke that was in the air.

"Very well, stand by weapons and arm the G.O.D. cannons for close range, target the nearest two targets with full weapons. And start counting down."

"Aye aye sir," the officer repeated before going on with his duties. "Eight thousand meters….seven thousand meters….six thousand meters…five thousand meters….four thousand….three thousand…two thousand…one thousand…."

"Sir they are locking us up." An officer said.

"Well it had to be broken sometime" James said reluctantly.

"Five hundred meters."

"Hit them with everything we got, all batteries!" Patterson yelled out.

The _Gandalf _ opened up, practically point blank range with all of her guns, most of them firing white lines of ions at the enemy dreadnaught almost right in front of her nose, and then more white blasts of energy hit the other one, rippling all along their hull and opening it to space, hitting weapons emplacements and tearing them off in fireballs. Then the _Gandalf_ opened up with her main guns, gutting one ship in two straight blasts, then doing that to the other one as well, finally destroying both.

Michael Keegan was out over the station, firing everything that he had, shooting down many of the fighters that were coming for him. The station suddenly behind him exploded grandly, in one giant fireball, ripping into a Lupo and damaging it.

He looked at his display screen, and it was an utter mess, filled with so many ships of both sides that he could not make heads or tails. Obviously his starship controller was destroyed in battle and he needed analyses, he looked around in the cockpit, explosions and fireballs and lines of energy reflecting off of his glass plate.

He glanced at his screen again, and started to search for the _Gandalf_. Perhaps she was in the need for some radical assistance?

He finally found her floating out in the middle of nowhere, slowly bearing forth under heavy fire against one of the Dreadnaughts. Michael grinned at the pure audacity of such a move.

He rolled his fighter over, hit the retros, and accelerated ahead no matter the cost.

Two fighters picked up on his trail and made to pursue him, revving up their engines and sticking to his back like crazy glue.

Keegan performed a series of complex maneuvers, trying to shake them, but they doggedly stayed back there, almost super human like. He hit his engine to full again and launched himself into a radical right hand turn, just missing a bolt by mere centimeters.

But they continued to stay back there.

He grinned again enjoying the feel of the chase; he cut his power slightly and rolled right into the heart of the battle. Where the _Gandalf _was in the middle of engaging a Centari cruiser, bolts were flying back and forth like fireflies.

Most of them were getting through the weakened defenses of the Vorchan, parts of the enemy ship looked like it had been gutted by a few large pincers. He directed his fighter towards it and dove hard.

Just then an ion bolt from one of the main batteries of the Earth Alliance Destroyer hit the Vorchan amidships, punching through what armor their was and causing the hull breach to expand causing a secondary explosion that expanded out into the cold of space.

Instead of flinching away from it, he dove through, just covering his eyes. But as they cleared he moved rapidly, cutting power to his engines drifting for only a few more kilometers, then he activated his thrusters stopping him in mid space, before he repowered his engines and moved the other way, arching over the other side of the cruiser.

He swung around fast and hard, the two fighters stopping to scan for their lost target, he pounced on them in revenge, hitting both of them with pairs of full anti ship Ion bolts, ripping them to composite atoms.

He then hit his thrusters again, and lit the cruiser up with his targeting rays, he fired all the missiles that he had on board, they tore into the cruiser, doing what damage it could. A Nike finished them off clearing the _Gandalf's _path.

Keegan then turned into a large group of fighters that were speeding for the damaged Destroyer that he called home.

The air tasted like smoke and burnt circuit, the eyes stung, consoles were darkened. And still they came.

Explosions continued to rattle the ship, jarring the teeth of everyone on it, the med bays were loaded to the max, hull breaches were venting atmo to space, men and women were living and dying.

Patterson was busy calling out combat orders, Norman was losing himself in trying to keep track of all the damage that was happening to the ship. Power was failing, one of the fusion chambers ruptured. And yet they still had a mission to complete.

"How far?" Patterson barked out.

"Nor far, just under nine thousand kilometers, there is a lot of junk in between them and us though. They are settling into orbit." An officer responded, analyzing the data that was transforming his console almost second by second.

"How do we get there?"

"I do not know sir."

"Maybe we should withdraw? We are not going to help anything here." Norman suggested grimly.

Patterson shook his head sadly and wearily. "The fleet is in disarray, either confused or engaged with the enemy. Helm bring us in there, thread the needle." He said determined.

"I will try sir." The man there said grimly.

"Get it done!"

"Yes sir."

Another hit rocked the ship nearly causing Patterson to trip and fall, but Norman was there to catch him.

"This is not working." Patterson said sounding lost and ghost like, coolant exploded from the back of the ship highlighting the point.

"We need a new strategy." Norman said sounding determined. Forgiving himself for his weakness, they were dead anyways, might as well take as many with them as they could.

"I know." Patterson said, and then he ran over to tactical, leaping over the railing, showing surprising agility. "Tactical, give me a target lock on them, with the G.O.D. cannons, we need to hit them from here."

"Sir their defenses are weak on this side, I think I can do it, if we hit the coolant area we have a chance."

"Do it." He then raised his voice. "Helm, standby on emergency escape order one, break for the planet, when we destroy them they are gonna be blinded."

"Aye sir."

The _Gandalf_ fired its tightly focused particle beams at the enemy, red flames of war arched out yet again. They caught the enemy battle wagon along its aft section, ripping into its coolant lines that fed the main weapon, super heated plasma engaged and then exploded, ripping a hole out of the weapon, before causing it to explode and take the ship with it.

One of the escorts was taken out in the fire ball, taking the rest of their sensors off line, the _Gandalf_ blasted off flanking them, quickly approaching the rest of the formation that was still gradually approaching their home.

"James how bad is it?" He said getting up and walking over to his first officer.

"Bad, I do not know how much more of this we can take."

"We will make it, we have no other choice."

"I know but I doubt we will survive the attempt, we have multiple breaches and are spewing atmo from all the damaged sections."

"Sirs, we are approaching the next dreadnaught, the line of picket ships has moved out farther and are moving to cover them." One of the sensor operators that were still standing said.

He patted his first officer on the shoulder, looking into his eyes. "We'll make it." James nodded.

He then barked his own orders. "Set all weapons for maximum dispersal; let us hit them with everything we got this time."

The officers nodded, entering the commands into the system that they could.

Patterson started to tug at his chin, first wisps of doubt were entering his mind as he considered what he was going to do with the combat situation at hand. That he had a job to finish, but he could not have done so with any kind of ability. He needed to win, to save his planet, but he was not sure about how he was going to go about completing his mission at this point in time.

His weapons and armor were beginning to fail, power relays were out all over the ship, and the fusion reactors were running hot, it was just a near impossible task, especially with so many escorts in the way.

His one moment of doubt was closing in on him, threatening to overwhelm him, he would fail, seven billion people would die, including them.

He fell back into his chair, ignoring the stabbing that was happening as he was going down into his own thoughts. But then the thought occurred to him, his head snapped up in realization.

"How many missile tubes do we have left?" He asked his tactical officer.

"Eight are online, three of them are off line, and one has been ruptured into outer space. Pressure seems to be down on them, we have barely enough power to power the launching mechanism."

"Good, load all the remaining ones with triple decoys, all the decoys that we have left, set them for high radiation and stand by to fire. Norman where are those escorts!"

His first officer nodded to him. "About eight hundred kilometers around the next dreadnaught, they are boxing them in."

Patterson nodded decisively, "Good, target the decoys on them."

"Trying to make them scatter?"

"Yeah that is the plan. Risky though, we are about to take heavy damage."

"Roger that." His first officer winced lacking all of his usual bravado.

"Comunications get on the horn to the Fury squadrons, once we drive them off we are going to have to keep them as preoccupied as possible in order to survive to get on, remember right now we are the only ship in the fold." Patterson went back to work manning a slightly burnt out station.

"Sir we are entering their outer weapons range!" One of the members of the crew said, just then hits tore through the fabric of the ship again, causing what sounded like pieces of floatsam to detach throughout the ship. Patterson had to grip the railing as the floor reeled underneath him, doing almost impossible things. He knew that they could not take this for long, and that their defenses must have been in shambles.

Ionic bolts slammed into the hull, catching most of the bow on fire. Fire suppression systems automatically went to work and cut out most of the burns, but it was too much.

Patterson gave the order and the decoys flew at an impressive rate, drawing closer and closer, the Centauri reacted shocked and went emergency evasive, firing at everything that they could get their weapons to lock onto, taking all of them out. But that was not enough, several squadrons of Starfuries came up on them and let go with everything they had, harassing the enemy as the _Gandalf_ made to destroy the main target, facing little resistance now.

One Sqaudron of fighters came up on the target in front of them, softening them up perceptibly, the enemy vessel shunted its powers to its defenses from its weapon, as they were powering up. But it was too late, the Furies scored some impressive hits, opening and ripping them to outerspace.

"Alright, looks like the fighters did the job for us it seems. Doing heavy damage, lets finish them off light then, conserve power to our battle damage." Patterson said, feeling like they had caught their first real break in a long time.

In compliance with the orders the main weapons were shut down and turned over to the back ups, the lighter ion cannons swiveled around and turned towards the planet killer. Fourteen of the repeating turrets lit up, and two of the bigger ion cannons, pointing at the Dreadnaught. They all opened fire at once.

They tore through the weakened armor systems, dozens of pulses a second, tearing through and into the hull, exploding within the very bowels of the ship itself. Leaving it a lifeless, floating hunk of speeding metal, on a collision course with the upper atmosphere.

"Excellent, now get us out of here!" Patterson said, urging his ship on, but another hit took his feet out from under him and he collapsed on his chair, the bridge was surrounded by and explosion as one of the rear maps and the glass of the briefing room exploded outward.

"Main power overload, our systems are failing." A man said from his seat at the only remaining damage control console on the bridge.

"Very well." Patterson said wiping the grit off of his hair, and looking out.

"Sir, the _Texas_ and one of her sisters is hailing us, they are in a position to take out the next Dreadnaught in the line, but they are taking heavy damage."

"Stand by to clear space around them, all Ion Repeater turrets set around them, let us add our fire to theirs." Patterson ordered decisively.

The _Gandalf _fired again, shooting out into space at maximum dispersal, ripping the fighters apart that were harassing the EA Battleships.

One of the Centauri fighters broke off, and launched four attack torpedoes at the EA Destroyer.

"Sir we have incoming torpedoes, enemy fighters, on the nose." An officer reported to his Captain.

"Brace yourself." Patterson said grabbing onto the railing.

Alpha-6 hit two of the warheads as they flew past, but the others he could not get as they struck his mother ship towards the stern. They tore giant gashes in the ship.

Patterson and the crew had to grab a hold of the stations to prevent themselves from falling over, the floor shook as if it was in an earthquake, and Patterson's teeth felt like they were about to break.

The fighter was destroyed in instant retaliation.

Then the powerful Earth Alliance Battleships opened up on the formation of Centauri vessels with all the particle and beam weapons in their arsenal. In nearly a full minute six Centauri Vessels including the Dreadnaught was turned into gutted or twisted wrecks of ionized plasma, floating over Earth, dead.

Only one ship survived and it was quickly dispatched by the _Gandalf's_ G.O.D. cannons.

The _Texas_ and her sister ship had to beat a hasty retreat as nearly thirty Centauri warships of every shape and size jumped the two vessels and their escorts as they drove them away from the remaining Dreadnaughts. A tremendous firestorm erupted between the two opposing forces, destroying many Centauri vessels in the process.

The Centauri diverted all of their forces at the sudden appearance of the enemy behind their own lines, hitting the only remaining threat with everything they had. While keeping any other significant EA units pinned down as well, not that there were that many left.

"Looks like we caught a break." Norman said from the bridge grinning like a small child, the weariness wearing down his normal defenses.

"Well it seems like Earth has made its own luck again, but we still have to deal with the Dreadnaughts and a small group of escorts, hopefully that will not take all that much. But our defenses our down." Patterson said looking at the tac displays with lidded eyes, exhaustion and weariness was driving him almost half mad.

War in the modern era was not supposed to be like this, he was supposed to be dead long before they got to that point.

But they were here and their species survival was on the line. He shook his head to clear it as they came up on the next ship.

"How are you holding up?" Norman asked.

Patterson looked at him glaringly, "We do not have the time for this, and we need to get this job done in the earliest possible convenience, let us move it."

Keegan was flying point for his mothership, just off to one side, observing the gashes along the hull, and the deep pits and scorch marks that indicated extreme damage done to the hull.

Bolts of light nearly blinded him as they slammed into the sides of the hull, he had to cover his hands with his eyes in order to prevent from being blinded. When he looked an fireball was heading out to space, flotsam had been ejected from the ship, and the hull was still in the process of twisting, moving inward at the power of the first impact and then moving out ways because of explosive decompression. Bolts of energy shot back and forth between the two ships at almost an impossible rate, more of them striking the _Gandalf_ as explosion after explosion raced across her still armored hull.

Keegan went off to join in the defense of the ship, making a mad dash at the enemy.

Stacia Clarke was marching down one of the corridors of the ship, rushing in a dignified pace in order to reach where she was trying to conduct emergency repairs.

Suddenly the corridor heaved and spun around her, debris and a gust of power knocked her down to the floor panels hard, bruising her head badly and nearly causing her to loose all of her senses.

She regained them, and tried to get up prone; she looked over and saw her fallen comrade.

"Collins!" She screamed. He did not answer; she checked his pulse and saw that he was deader then a doornail.

She then heard a hissing sound and looked over as she saw…space…a slight sliver of it, and all the air was rushing out the hole. She panicked, not having the tools to repair, and knowing what that would do to them.

She crawled over to the edge of the wall, to see that it was a collapsed emergency bulkhead, she started to bang on it, screaming and wailing, extolling the heavens that anyone could hear her.

But with each bang her efforts were growing less powerful, and more desperate as she thrashed, finally collapsing at the foot of it, hoping, wistfully, that Michael would save her, come down in his Fury and rescue her. But no such luck, at least her last thoughts would be happy ones.

But she fell back, into the portal, the air was swirling around her, and a tall figure tripped over her, she looked up at him blearily and could just make out the form of Jose, the ships Marine Captain, gazing down at her, he holstered his PPG and dragged her to safety, slamming the bulkhead behind them.

Stacia then started to hack and gasp for breath. "Thank you." She managed to get out.

Patterson was gazing at the screen, rolling with the punches as the ship was taking extreme damage. Hit after hit after hit pulsated through the fabric, feeling as if a jackhammer of the gods was being thumped against the hull, causing them to all feel as though their bones were breaking.

Patterson watched in desperation as yellow and white bolts swept pass the screen to hit on the ship, the sound in the background sounding as though it was detaching large sections of the hull and external arrays.

Their defenses were full of holes that small personnel freighters could get through.

They had only one option, it made Patterson's blood turn cold, he slammed his hand down on the table. But yet they had no other choice.

"Weapons, transfer all fire control to interception, hit them with everything we got, but our primary concern is going to be to keep the _Gandalf _safe. Arm tactical nukes, with whatever tube we have left. Helm, give me emergency flank speed on the last two engines we have, and adjust our course."

James went over to him and spoke into his ear. "Sir, we will never make this and you know it, the missiles will be intercepted long before they can hit the target."

Patterson turned and gave his friend an ice cold stare. "Then we are going to have to make sure that they can't."

The course he set in, took them right into the enemy ship.

Patterson watched the ship turn slowly into the fire, he could see the forward bow point toward the bright spot that was the enemy vessel. Streams of ions flew between the ships, most of them impacting in the middle of space. But several got through, causing the floor beneath him to vibrate extremely viciously.

Time seemed to slow around him as sparks started to leak across the bridge, and he could see and feel pieces of his ship being torn off, leaking debris into outerspace, trailing the ship like a wake of death.

The _Gandalf_ crawled forward, limping into the fire. As she got closer and closer the Centauri only intensified their firepower as they got into the zone more and more, pounding away on the almost crippled ship, causing the breaches and the hull to catch on fire, damaging it severely.

The back of the bridge caught on fire, and exploded, the ceiling collapsed and steel beams and debris fell over the bridge, partially blocking off the exit. A fire broke off lighting the bridge in flickering flame.

"Sir we have to go!" Norman said, blood leaking down on his head…but not his own.

Patterson shook his head. "Not yet."

"We are well within range Captain, we cannot afford to do this anymore, we need to go. We are entering range." An officer said, manning one of the last stations.

"Not yet! We have to see this through. Stand by." Patterson said, moving over to the front of the bridge and leaning over the railing.

Patterson grimaced, squinting at the screen closely as the two ships continued to get closer, the other was turning into a defined shape.

"Alright do it now!" Patterson barked out.

The missile exploded from the silo, flying rapidly at the enemy vessel, covering the distance almost instantaneously with the two vessels being in almost direct close range with one another.

The warhead separated and slammed into the Centauri war wagon, detonating as it penetrated the armor, detonating within the armor, and causing the ship to be torn apart from the inside out, tearing up systems, and causing explosions to all secondary systems which consumed the ship in the end, blowing it apart. A shockwave spread away from the ship.

The shockwave collided with the bow of the Earth Alliance Destroyer, stopping it dead in its tracks, and then lifting it up bow on so its bow started to point more and more up.

The bridge sparked and tremored again, blue light flashed on the bridge as the shockwave collided with it, causing the bridge to light up severely, nearly blinding the bridge crew.

They were all slammed back, and then momentum was restored front wise, the ship jolted forward again, moving rapidly forward in comparison for the dead stand still.

The shockwave tore whatever other weapons off the hull that were still fastened to their pylons.

The crew then slammed forward, being knocked into their stations, causing Patterson to be slammed to the decking, he tried to roll with the shock, but ended up landing on his shoulder hard, breaking it. He picked himself up and looked around the bridge, trying to determine the status of his ship. He saw the two crewmen slumped over in the remaining navigational and helm consoles.

"Status!" He said, his head felt like it split and he had to grab it in pain. He removed his hand to reveal blood, he must have cut himself.

Norman went over to the last station showing the status of the ship and bought it up on the screen. "Weapons are all down, we have massive damage to the ship, and the structure, twenty percent of the ship. We are losing power badly, and engines are down to about thirty percent."

"Damn" Patterson said feeling slightly woozy. "What about the other ship?"

"The only sensors we have online is energy scanners, and its signature is about one hundred kilometers away. Looks like they came up to support the other dreadnaught, but they must think we have been destroyed; they are building power to their guns. Five minutes till firing."

"Thank you." Patterson's shoulders slumped.

He sighed; there really was one thing for it, which he had to do. But it was so hard for him to even contemplate this, the hardest order for a commanding officer to ever have to give. This order was contrary to all of his military training and precepts….but it could save millions.

It was such a pretty ship too.

He limped over to the console, pushing the body out of it with great difficulty; he sat down, with a sigh and a groan. Feeling like he was fading fast. He laid in the course, pressing buttons on the console from distant memory, as the indicators on the screens before him indicated that the ships course was training, pointing at the enemy ship before him. He dialed it in, and let the computer take care of the rest.

Norman knew what they were doing, he came on over, and put an arm on his commanders shoulder. Patterson jolted, he was almost in a stupor, and he turned to see his friend.

"Well this is it I guess." Norman said quietly.

"Yes it is. It has been an honor to serve with you."

"I know" Norman smiled crookedly, facing death with a vengeance.

The vessel was filling the window now, getting closer and closer, they could just make out the main weapon glowing hot, getting ready to fire, charging up.

But then, it exploded, the full side of the ship suddenly ruptured in a fireball, leaking into space, spreading out toward them, shocking them, while they just barely noticed a red line of firepower just disappearing as they gazed at it.

"What the?" Patterson said mouth agape.

Norman ran over to the scanner. Then he sighed. "It's the fleet, the ISA and the rest of the Earth Alliance." Norman nearly whooped. Then he cleared his mind again, "they are moving to secure the rest of space, and wipe out the rest of the Centari fleet…the enemy is being surrounded and destroyed."

"Very well." Patterson said, he tried to get up, and then managed it; he limped over to the center, trying to take his place on the center of the bridge, right on his chair.

He stumbled half way to it, and then was flung down face down on the mat, could not catch himself. He rolled over and stared skyward, to see James Norman come up above him, trying to run a quick self check on himself.

His first officer was concerned for him, he ran off out of his Captain's vision, likely heading for a com relay panel. Patterson never heard it though; he lost consciousness, everything fading to black.


	10. Mid Break

It had been two Days.

Two days since the battle of Earth and Captain Scott Patterson was in a drab gray room on a space station. He had a bandage around his head, but was other wise fine, just feeling light headed and woozy.

But the Universe Today report before him was occupying pride of place as far as his attention went.

The battle for Earth was one of the bloodiest in the Alliance's history. More then one hundred and twenty thousand….dead, more then three hundred thousand…wounded. That included both the EA and ISA forces that came to Earth's defense, and all the civilians around it.

As for the Centauri's massive invasion effort, who knew?

But it was clear that the Narn attacks were just a diversion, a way of diverting valuable forces away from the ISA's greatest son and it nearly worked as well.

If it was not for that meddling Destroyer.

Patterson cracked a smile at that, not that he was 'happy' but it was the only moment that he could break him out of his somber and reflective mood.

They had done it, they had saved Earth. The EA had fulfilled its most sacred obligation once again.

But at a terrible price, of men, lives, resources, and morale.

On his own ship they withstood massive damage, and took severe casualties. Sixty two dead, two hundred and ninety eight wounded. This was just a testament to the Warlock design, a testament to her survivability in battle, and that of the crew. At least they would be alive to fight another day, and another battle.

He looked up from the front page story, and saw a haggard looking Michael Keegan making his way slowly over to Patterson's 'office'. This was just an area of deck plating with a desk on it, surrounding by an entire cargo bay with other officers, and then a triage facility with bandgaged and moaning men, being attended to by pretty nurses.

Keegan finally found his way through the maze and saluted crisply. "Sir." He said.

"Lieutenant." Patterson said saluting easily, and lazily, too beat up still too much care for proper military protocol. "You wish to say something?"

"I do sir." Michael hesitated, Patterson arched a curious eyebrow. He plowed on. "The EAS _Andrew Jackson_ is getting ready for another deployment. Turns out the Centauri are making another push near the Vega system. They are getting ready to move out, but they need qualified and experienced pilots. I figured I would join up with them."

Patterson chuckled. "Yes Lt. you have my permission, just come back in one piece."

Keegan saluted, and did an about face perfectly, Patterson could not help but grin at the sight of the suddenly proper fighter pilot, as he got back to his reports on the _Gandalf's_ status on his desk. But he could not help but remark off handedly, out of the side of his mouth, like it was perfectly natural. "Oh, and tell Stacia she is cleared to go if she is so inclined."

Patterson watched Keegan stiffen perceptibly, before continuing on in a more natural pace.

As soon as he was out of sight, Patterson threw the sheet down hard on the desk, making it spill over the edge and onto the floor. He had no choice. He needed to see them, they just faced extinction for crying out loud, but something about it still made him hesitate.

It had been twenty years since they last saw each other, and even then it was not a 'proper' reunion. Just a funeral, and then he was off again.

He had no choice. But at least there was something more he could do before the inevitable meeting…actually the only thing he could do given that all space transport was for official military function only. So he had to make some pretense of going down if he was even going to do it tonight.

So with that thought in mind he got up with a creak and a groan, and marched over to the airlock, and then the com horn, trying to get some kind of single out.

In the mean time Stacia Clarke had her head on top of her arms. Staring bored at the opposite wall of the mess hall that she was in; station 'Gama' that was orbiting the moon. Still the last surviving space station over the moon, and it still took extreme damage from fighters and the cross fire. But it was still standing.

She had been here…in the mess hall…almost non stop since the battle. Just sitting here, reading, eating, and sleeping. Nothing she could do otherwise, they had denied her the ability to go and repair her own ship. She could only watch from here.

She felt a familiar stirring, and blinked up just in time to see Michael Keegan enter the mess hall. He saw her and made his way over. She got up pushing her chair in, and they said hello quietly to one another, despite being one of the only one or two in here.

"Well," he continued. "The EAS _Andy Jackson_ is heading out on a mission. The Centauri are trying to open up a second front, and they are heading out to head them off at the pass."

"I see." She said hesitating, not sure what this had to do with them.

"Yeah, I requested that I could go, and Captain Patterson said yes."

"Oh," she said slightly shocked, but then she grinned. "Can I come?" Finally a stop to all this monotony.

"Captain Patterson said you could come, yes." Michael said with a slight edge.

"Captain Patterson? And what about you, you hardly sound thrilled."

"You are an engineer." He said uneasily.

"Yes, a very good one, I also made a good RIO if you remembered."

He started to head out into the hall, she followed doggedly. "Yes, a great RIO, one of the best I have ever had." Keegan said.

"Then what is the problem?" She said trying not to sound hurt.

"Nothing."

"But-"

"Look, it is no problem. Not really, nothing I feel like explaining now anyways." He said turning toward her. Then he moved off, not saying another word, leaving her behind.

On Earth, forty miles North of the 'San Diego wastelands', Captain Patterson was just moving onto a military facility, one housing his friend James Norman.

He turned left onto a row of barracks, and moved to the third one down, the largest building at this area of the base.

On the door it had the plaque with the unit '_7__th__ Marine Division, 3__rd__ Battalion_' emblazoned across it.

This was Norman's home unit, the one that he did basic with, the one that he spent most of his career assigned to as he went on other EA ships as well.

He entered the door as it opened with a mechanic whoosh, as a gust of wind blew around him.

His sight adjusted and he looked around the crowded room. The Marines here looked tired, depressed, and battle wearied, despite not being involved in the actual action themselves. Though Patterson could only imagine that this is how the rest of the planet must have been feeling.

He looked around, glaring around the bays, any of the Marines that caught his eye instantly looked away, that was not a look to be trapped with for long. But yet, Patterson could not see his friend.

He was about to move up to a gunnery sergeant and inquire after Norman's whereabouts, but he felt a tapping on his shoulder.

He spun around on his heels only to come face to face with a not too kind looking friend.

"So you have not seen them yet?" He interrupted before Patterson could say likewise.

"Uh-no, and that is 'so you have not seen them yet 'sir'." Patterson retorted.

Norman unleashed a crooked grin on him. "Yes sir, I figured you were here because you want back up?"

"Yes, and I need military transport to go anywhere, most of the planet is still in a shock."

"Yeah we will take ground transport, get you there in a jiff." Norman said, leading the way.

Ten minutes later they were rolling down the pavement of the 'Patterson family home' just North of LA. No transport on the road, no one but military, and military transport carrying an EAMC Colonel and an EAN Captain. That tended to let you get places quickly.

Norman decided to pull off, and then park out in the drive way. Patterson got out, so did Norman, but he stayed back

Patterson walked up the driveway, finding the climb difficult, but not because he was out of shape.

Then the door opened, and an older woman came out of it and looked at him nervously. Obviously the appearance of military ground transport scared her ever so slightly, but she was more curious then anything, what could the Earth Alliance want with her?

But then shock came into her eyes, as she recognized who that had to be. "Scott?" she asked.

"Yeah, it's me." He smiled timidly.

She grinned at him, as much as she could, and then hobbled over him and wrapped him in a hug. She then released him and raised her voice back to the house. "Hey everyone! Scott is here."

"Scott?" he heard a familiar sounding voice ask.

Jennifer then came into the doorway, and she opened up her arms wide, her own niece followed her out, staying in the door way and giving him a curious look.

"Hello Scott." She said giving him an intense hug.

"Hello Jennifer, what are you doing here?" He asked cautiously, figuring she should be in school.

"Oh, college gave all of us some time off to spend time with our families in the wake of the attack." She explained, her eyes sparkling intently.

"I see." He said, as he started for the house, the two women following him in his wake.

He stopped in the door and bent down to investigate the younger blond kid in front of him. "Hello" He greeted smiling warmly, "my name is Scott Patterson, and what is yours?"

"I'm Lisa" She said brightly. Her eyes were taking him in. "You are in Earth Force aren't you?"

"Yes I am, a captain." He replied eagerly.

"Cool!" She said skipping off.

"Where's Jeff?" He asked curiously

"Oh, he decided to go visit his old buddies from the Earth Air National Guard unit that he served in a while ago, turns out they were really fragged over Earth in the last battle. He is moving to check on them."

"I see," Patterson let his shoulders sag almost imperceptibly, then he shook his head to clear it.

He sat down at the table, with Lisa hopping around from one room to the other, Jennifer following her around cautiously, following her niece with her eyes.

Tea and biscuits were served, Patterson's mom had always made the best Biscuits imaginable, he still remembered that.

They chatted for a long time, going over the events of the past few days, and that was enough of a topic to keep them occupied until the sun was beginning to set.

Jennifer looked at the clock, startled; she got up and took Lisa gently by the hand. "I am sorry, but I promised Lisa's parents that I would get her home soon, after they finished carousing, and I have to get to the university early to continue my classes."

Patterson smiled, while his mom got up and said her good byes, kissing Jen on both cheeks, and ruffling Lisa's blond hair, before she returned to sit down opposite Scott.

Silence came down between them, muffling the world around them like a thick blanket, seeming to stretch out into awkward infinity.

"He didn't blame you you know." His mother suddenly burst out.

"I know that Mom." He placed his cup down on the table and actually heaved a sigh. "But, when you are running as long as I have been, it looks like when you do look back on it, all the things that you could have done differently."

"So that is what you were doing? You always wanted to serve, what happened was never going to change that."

"I know, and I did, but the way I did it, the way I just left you like that, running away at a too young age."

He got up in a huff and went over to the window, admiring the beauty, but he could not help but feel trapped by the shadows.

His mom wondered to herself if she should get up and try and comfort her son, or what she should do. After all he was not even her son.

"It's just that" he blurted out pausing, and then collecting his breath. "Just that, I could not take it anymore, the fights, the incrimination and the accusations that were flying between the two of us, and then how I felt he was treating you. I could not take that environment anymore."

"And then you ran." She said, trying to make it sound gentle.

"Yes I ran, I ran all the way to Earth Force, to outer space, and then I just barely made it back, but even then I was distant, this time running because of guilt more then anything, for what I had done."

"Jennifer forgave you."

"Yes she did, a long long time ago. I do not even know why, the two of them were so close."

"She has that type of soul Scott"

"I know."

His mother went over to her son, and turned him around, stroking his back and looking into his eyes.

"Well you are here now, that is all that is important to me, and to us." She said. He moved to talk again, "but we could use to see you more often around here, and we should catch up on the little time that we have left in this world." She smiled, he looked a bit uncertain; she laughed and pinched his cheek. "Not that I want you to give up your career or anything, just once or twice more a year would be nice."

Patterson grinned; in trying not to he was sheepish. "I will try mom, but it's going to be hard with the war on, though I can probably stay all night if I have to-"

Norman entered the house in a rush, and then paused up short in the sight; he bowed slightly to Mrs. Patterson. "Sir, Earth Force Command wants to see you; they sounded urgent."

"Well, I should go."

"You do what you have to."

"Yes ma'am." He said saluting crisply, before running out with his first officer and jumping into the Military transport.

Storm clouds gathering on the Horizon.


	11. The beginning of the End

Deep in space, the planet was highlighted in the background, being lit by the star beyond, explosions crisscrossing across the star scape just in front of the planet, as it was the focal point for the battle.

A lone Thunderbolt was racing through space, dodging high energy bolts by just centimeters, as it went along to face off against different targets.

Michael Keegan had the controls in his hands, scanning the area just in front of him with his eyes, occasionally looking down at his sensor displays, and seeing it filled with a chaotic frequency of both long and short range contacts. His control vessel was helping to make some sense of it, showing enemies and friends alike, so he could determine which was which.

"Stacia, give me a reading on those ships out there at 2-8-5."

"Aye sir" She said, trying to keep her voice neutral.

The screen shifted on its axis, and he got a better look at the group of fighters he had asked to be highlighted. Four Centauri fighters dueling with a small group of Aurora's, with two more Centauri fighters moving off to intercept, but there was a cruiser that was blocking the way.

Keegan glanced around space, trying to fine a way to see what was still going on, try to find a way through the net beyond the Cruiser to support his comrades.

He found one, along the long spine of the ship yards which were the Centauri primary target, he did not like it, but it was the only way that he could complete his mission.

"Stacia, we are going to be heading right along that beam, get ready." He said to her lightly.

She did not even respond as she manipulated the controls on her console and brought the ship around, giving him more control of the ship, and manipulating the electronic countermeasure suite that the ship had aboard.

He adjusted his course, and dove hard for the deck, pulling up just in time and at near full speed, racing along the spine of the ship yards, trying to get to the other side so he could help his comrades in arms. Two anti ship torps ripped into a Warlock that was parked alongside the base, taking it out from the inside out in one giant fireball. Five kilometers on two pulses of energy slammed into the spine, causing it to snap in half, and break away from the rest of the spine. Keegan had to roll away as flotsam and debris exploded outward toward his ship; he just missed the concussive shockwave by mere inches.

He decided it was enough, and opened his throttle all the way to the full, firing his thrusters at maximum, jolting him and his girl friend back in their seats from G forces.

He toggled off a space to space interceptor missile, and fired. It hit the fighter down its centerline, ripping it apart, crew and all.

He could feel sensors looking for him, and he turned, and dove into the fire fight.

Captain Patterson entered the room and froze on the sight before him.

In front of him were most of the big names in the ISA, and EA history. They were just sitting there, looking at him considering. The door closed behind him, and he tried to move forward, trying to make his jaw behave and not go too awry.

In the room that he could see were Susan Ivonova, Delenn, Michael Gideon, in one chair was the officer he saw in General Baker's room when he was there getting command…Elizabeth Lochly, and to round it out there was a Narn General, who had a bored and annoyed look on his face.

And sitting opposite him, with a chair facing away from him, was someone he could not see…but before he could really look at him closely he heard, "take a seat Captain" from General Gideon.

He did so, letting professionalism and his training take over, he put his hands out in front of him and stared at the far edge of the wall, making eye contact with no one.

Gideon cracked a grin. "At ease Captain, no reason to be worried…truth be told we are here to give you and your crew their next assignment."

"Sir?" He turned looking at him cocking his head to one side, his eyes glinting with curiosity.

"Yeah, but, I think more of a briefing is more in hand."

Patterson nodded.

"What you are going to be looking at providing top secret information provided by the Rangers." Susan said plainly.

"And the Narn government" The Narn said in a Narn drawl.

"Understood," Patterson nodded, letting them know he understood his roll in this.

"A few months ago we analyzed the hull fragments from destroyed Centauri Fighters. We found no organic mass, in a good many of them, none at all. The ships were on auto pilot, we do not know how, and what means they are using. But we do know that they were automated." Gideon continued.

"Which explains how they were able to bring such a massive fleet against us and the Narns," Lochly volunteered, almost unnecessarily.

"Yes, and we have no idea how they were able to get their hands on this technology." Ivanova supplied.

"So you have no information?" Patterson said confused. They were all high trained officers who had been in the fire before, and they all knew that a starship commander had to face drastic situations, so intelligence was vital before going into any information.

"No...We do not." Lochly said uneasily.

"But that is not the point." Delenn said testily, surprising everyone for the first time. She gestured to the person sitting in the chair, revealing a regal Centauri face. "This is Prince Vintari, of the Centauri Republic, Emperor in exile, and the next one for the throne of the Centauri republic."

"Pleased to meet you Captain." He said with a thick accent.

"Like wise." Patterson said, his curiosity rapidly rising to the surface.

"You are going to give him his throne back." Ivanova said bluntly.

"Me?" Patterson said his eyes widening.

"Yes, your mission by the EA and ISA commands is to penetrate the Centauri lines and to get him to Centauri Prime, and then convince the people and the Royal court that he is the legitimate emperor." Delenn explained serenely.

"You see when I was younger John Sheridan took me in, gave me a home, and showed me a new way of living, but in that time my enemies took their opportunity, solidified their power, and when I tried to reclaim what was mine by Centauri custom, they exiled me. I found my way back to Earth just before the war." Vintari explained.

Patterson was already working on another problem. "Penetrate the Centauri lines?" He asked.

The Narn General leaned forward and explained with a slight passion. "We are going to hit them, hard, with six hundred ships in all, in three places along the border, as you sneak across providing you with the distraction you need…and hopefully winning the war."

"That sounds like a plan." Patterson said, releasing some of his tension just a bit.

"Indeed it does." Prince Vintari said smiling wanly, it had to be tough for him considering the loss of Centauri life he was discussing, Patterson decided.

He continued. "Back when I was younger, had I taken the throne, I would have waited, and hit Earth hard. Where there would be no doubting our superiority and Earth would have been destroyed."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"But I realize that was wrong, and now I just want to stop the blood shed." The room visibly sighed in relief.

"Baring that you are to find out how they are making these ships, and this autonomous program, and shut them down, so the Centauri military will not be as much of a threat as they are now." Gideon gave him the rest of his assignment.

"I see." Patterson said, then looked around embarrassed, "why me?"

"You are the best man for the job, you remind me of me when I was younger, and besides, we need people with experience, and the ship to match. And you have been on the front lines the most since the war began, almost every single major engagement you have participated in."

"I see…." He said. "What about a crew, mine got pretty skewered in the last battle?"

"Well we have enough from other ships that we are doing a lot of mixing and matching, don't worry, you will have a full crew compliment, weapons, and we are giving you the batch of Raptors that have just been finished. Along with anything else you will feel you will need."

"OK, that sounds about all that will be required, I should get to it. Gentlemen, ladies, sirs," he said turning smartly and exiting the room.

Keegan was out the ships hangar bay, and sped for the distant dreadnaught that was raining fire on the carrier ship. It was trapped and encircled, but it was putting up a hell of a fight, and dishing out punishment for every bolt that it lost in its hull plating.

He turned into the fire, going deep into space, and then turning back on his original course.

He hit his engines on full, and raced toward the enemy war ship, highlighted in the black by the fire that it was spewing from its many gun ports, and the incoming fire from the Earth Force ships that were currently engaging it in battle.

He went on full burners, but kept his scanners off line, knowing that would give away his position and allow the enemy to kill him. He cut all of his radiating systems, going completely dark as he traveled on. His objective was to confuse them.

And confused they were, they knew that something was out there, but they did not know what. So, they opened fire. Blind firing with a full broadside of defensive batteries that were unengaged using 'flack' to see if they could find his whereabouts.

He deftly avoided the incoming fire, spinning and juking out of the way all the way to the target.

"Light up the racks." He ordered into his com, focusing on the target in front of him.

"Sir," she said reluctantly, and when they did not auto arm, and from the testiness in her voice, he could tell something was up. His heart sank as a result.

"Do it now please." He said, trying to make the desperate tone sound lighter then it probably sounded in fact, but the boards came up and the assault torpedoes armed themselves. "OK, now give me control of the sensors."

She did this too without a word of protest, as certain parts of his board lit up. He then went back to concentrating on the ship that was starting to fill up his canopy, starting to become a distinct vessel.

His hands hovered over the controls to turn all of his sensors onto their combat systems. He was trying to gauge distances, blind, with no readings, where mere seconds could force him from a position of tremendous safety, to one of fatal risk. He needed to gamble, to pick just the moment to strike, otherwise the Earth Forces would have to pummel that ship into component slag, and it was not showing any willingness to make that especially easy.

He decided that the time was good enough. He turned on his sensors, and instantly, as he predicted it, they screamed at him in lock on. He pressed down on the controls, rolling his fighter inverted and bringing it away from the Cruiser, before he fired.

The torpedoes fell from his Thunderbolt and sped rapidly at the Warship, so fast even that they barely had time to shoot down one of the three, before the other two slammed into its vulnerable side.

The first hit along one of the ships long wings with its many gun ports, exploding instantly and vaporizing the aft part of the ship all the way to the engine core.

The second missile exploded right along the ships centerline, ripping it in two, and when the reactor surged, the starship detonated, causing a supernova, reaching out over the kilometers, and even touching Keegan's craft, giving him a slight bump.

His head set crackled, and the controller for the _Andy Jackson_ came on the line.

"Alright, Starfurry Squadrons, all enemies have been dealt with in the local airspace. We are directing the local national guard to go and take care of the rest of the fighters in local space for us, the rest of you, head on back to the barn for rearming, refueling, and debriefing. We are going to stay here for awhile."

Keegan grinned like a school boy, wanting to pump his fists, but not wanting to hit them on the ceiling of his cockpit. "Well we did it." He said excitedly.

"Uh huh." He heard his co pilot from behind him.

His heart plummeted. He knew what was bothering her, and what he had done. But he had to land this bird first, and then report in. Wondering all the while how he was going to fix things.

Because he had been an ass.

Meanwhile, Captain Patterson was discussing their latest mission with his two remaining senior officers. Colonel Norman and Captain Kurylenko, he was busy filling them on precisely what their function was going to be in the upcoming event that they had to go through.

"It's not going to be easy." Norman shook his head looking at the stellar map of the Centauri border. "We are going to have to rely upon the probing invasion forces to create as big of a distraction for us as possible as we attempt to sneak back across the Centauri lines."

"That is why we have to go far north, almost directly away from the heavy areas of their boarders, right near Vorlon space. If we go in there, we should face a minimum of resistance as we move across it and into Centauri space. Earth Force Naval Intelligence indicates that their mine fields and boarder patrols in that area is sparse due to the war, and should get more so as the invasion hits."

"How long do we cross after the fleet engages them in battle?" The younger marine asked looking up.

"Not long, perhaps five hours or so." Patterson responded. "That should give them enough times to take units off the area to go and deal with the present threat."

"You think the Centauri are just going to go along and let them be usurped?" Norman asked.

Patterson thought about it for a second, a long second. "Hope for the best, and plan for the worse Colonel." He scratched at his chin. "Besides, he is the legitimate ruler, its not like Centauri law is going to get in the way. And," Patterson smiled wryly, "intelligence indicates that this war is not popular in the least with the Royal Court."

Norman rolled his eyes. "And they know this…how?"

"Beats me." Patterson chuckled.

His two officers smiled wolfishly back at him.

"The only thing I do know," he started philosophically, "is that they have lost a lot of lives and spent a lot of material, for no obvious benefit. That does not have to be making some people happy back there."

"Indeed" Norman supplanted.

"Well, we have a lot to prepare for, I suggest we get to it. Dismissed" Patterson waved them out, getting back to his own duty roster.

The EAS _Andrew Jackson_ was cruising gently in hyperspace, minding its own business on the short trek before they re entered Earth Space proper.

Two officers, guests on the ship, were huddled by one of the holographic 'windows' looking out into space. But they were not looking out; instead they were just staring blankly at the opposite wall.

To Michael Keegan the silence was, oppressive, and unpleasant. He glanced over to his side and sighed deeply, staring back towards his front. Then he sighed again, deeper and sadder. "Look I'm sorry for how I treated you earlier." He supplied

"That's nice." Stacia said bitterly.

He turned to her, looking at her square. "Really I am."

She looked at him then too, bitterly again, but her resolve quickly broke and her features softened perceptibly. Keegan's heart leapt uncomfortably; _maybe he could find his way out of this mine field he had gotten himself into after all. _

She sighed too. "Why did you do it anyways? Is it because you do not think I am good enough?"

Keegan gulped and looked back towards the wall, embarrassed. Stacia continued to stare at him, probingly, questioningly, her hawk like beam seeming to penetrate into his soul.

"Its not that, you are probably the best EWO and best engineer I have ever had the…uh…pleasure of knowing." He started off. Then he dove in.

"But…you are really the first person that I have ever cared about like this before. Well, not in that way. I have had other girl friends, but none since the academy, and none of them in Earth Force…none of them whose life might be endangered. And whom I would see first hand that danger, have to share in it, and have to watch them share in it."

"Is that really it?" She said, her eyes looking sad, pleading, but a smirk highlighting her features.

"Yeah, that's it." He said, and then banged his head off the bulk head behind him. "Silly me, and silly silly me, I did not even realize it until you told me the story of the battle. How you almost died, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I was not even there, it's a vulnerable feeling."

"So…" she said, fearing where this was going to lead to.

"So nothing," He responded with a grin. "I will get over it, I usually do. Mind you I understand now why old Earth militaries forbade relationships between officers." He smiled coyly.

She snorted. "Yeah there is that. So we are OK?"

"Yeah, we are OK; just forgive me my brief momentary loss of sanity."

"You are forgiven Michael." She said to him, beaming, feeling so relieved.

But before they could pursue this line of reasoning, the intercom came on. "Now approaching Earth, flight crews man your birds for the transfer of personnel. Have a safe trip, thank you."

Keegan wondered out loud. "So this is it?"

Stacia sighed, "Yeah this is it."

On the surface of the Earth Colonel James Norman was standing at a landing pad, watching as a shuttle was about to make its landing, the wind it was kicking up blowing his hair and his uniform jacket around that was warming.

It fired its thrusters one more time, hovered for a second, and then landed gingerly, grunting and moaning as it settled on the platform.

Its back door exploded in steam and the door opened with a metallic sounding thud, and then the ramp whooshed out and clanked against the pavement below. An Earth Force Major went into the doorway, and looked around for a second, taking in the surroundings, before he jogged down the ramp because of the steep incline.

The rest of the officers followed suite.

One of the last groups off was Lt. Cmdr. Clarke and Lt. Keegan, both of them were smiling, and she was leaning back toward him, talking mildly as they walked in a more leisurely fashion down the ramp.

Norman wondered if there wasn't more to that. But he shook his head clear of the idea.

He walked up to them and nodded at them with a gingerly "Hello"

"Hello sir." They said in almost unison.

"How was the trip?" He asked to the two of them, genuinely happy to see them.

"It was well sir." Michael said beaming; Stacia just nodded her agreement with this assessment of the situation that they had just come from. "What happened here while we were gone?" He asked.

"Well, a lot has happened," Norman iterated, and then he went onto a long five minute explanation of the new mission, and the new developments, that Earth was sending them on.

Keegan just whistled after he was done, shocked at the full implications of the mission before them.

"They serious?" Stacia asked.

"Yes they are Lt Commander." Norman said with a bit of a military edge.

Stacia flushed slightly and looked down, "What I mean is that one ship, against the entire Centauri Navy? Having to sneak in?"

"Ships have done it in the past, went on secret missions." Keegan said.

"Yeah but not when the stakes were so high," Stacia shot back.

"Regardless," Norman held up his hand turning to the two junior officers, and saying with a harsh military bark, "this is our mission, and the Captain is eager to get on the road. A shuttle is waiting to take us back on board."

"Well, let's get to it." Keegan said smiling, hardly feeling chastised.

Shuttles lifted off from the planet surface, and accelerated quickly into the depths of space, traveling quickly towards the ships in the flotilla that was assembling.

In one of the ones in the middle, the command crew of the EAS _Gandalf_ was watching the sites go bye.

Approaching the command station in the distance as other shuttles broke off to go attend to their ships, the sun glinting off of the glass of the view ports as they made their way ever closer, and highlighting the station in dramatic technological beauty.

The shuttle ducked below one of the pylons of the station that was obscuring the _Gandalf_ from view, as it filled the viewport in her majesty.

"Wow" Keegan said in awe, the first time that he had to look at his hip like this. Stacia looked at him, then back at the viewport, and smiled gaily.

"My friends, we have come home" Patterson said smiling as well, taking in his ship in all its glory.

Ten minutes later they were back on the bridge. "Captain on the bridge!" A junior officer said. Patterson had never seen before, must have been one of the new comers.

"At ease," He said waving him to the chair. He then mounted his command chair. "Cargo bay, is our packages aboard?"

"Aye sir, locked and ready to go." The Marine said over the intercom.

"Very Well," Patterson said and then he switched to the general intercom. "All hands this is the Captain speaking, prepare to get under way. We are heading right into the lions den on a mission that will hopefully win the war, that is all I can say at this point, but we are the best ship in the fleet, and we will get this done. Patterson out." He flicked his intercom off.

"Set a course for the Upper Centauri Border regions."

The helm and navigation manipulated their controls, "Aye sir, course laid in."

"Punch it, maximum speed." Patterson said.

The ship accelerated into the vortex, flashing as it entered, the vortex closing behind them as they sped off for their next objective.


	12. Revelations on the End

In the depths of space several hyper space portals opened, fleets of war machines made the transition from that to the real space.

They tore into the Centauri lines with relative ease, destroying everything in their path, taking a lot of damage along the way. The Earth Alliance and Inter Stellar Alliance hit the Centauri border region hard, and hundreds of small battles and skirmishes would take place over the next several hours.

High energy plasma, ions, and beams of angry red light scorched at one another, gutting hulls, and ending lives.

As for the _Gandalf _she crossed the border with complete ease. Not even being detected as she made the transition from one area to the other.

Stacia Clarke was in the mess hall, getting her tray from the galley stores, she turned around, and wondered where she was going to go to sit down and have her meal. The mess hall was oddly crowded for this time of day, no one really had anything to do for the moment. And they all knew, at least subconsciously, that this could change at any second now, where they could be forced into the fire so dramatically.

She saw a lonely figure sitting at a table towards the middle of the room, and decided to go and sit down and join it.

"Is this seat taken?" She said, approaching the figure nervously.

He started and looked at Stacia for a second before responding "no not at all." Prince Vintari said in his still overly thick Centauri accent.

She accepted the invitation and spread the napkin out in front of her on her lap as she went to eat. Prince Vintari did not look much inclined for the moment to talk, and he just went back to the state he was in before, deep in thought, almost in a blind stupor.

"I'm Stacia, Lt. Cmdr Clarke." she said in between mouth fulls.

"And you know who I am" The Prince said absently.

She looked at him for a second, hardly being insulted by the brash tone that he had taken on.

She looked at him sadly, figuring that something deep had to be on his mind.

"It must be tough," she said with sympathy, he came out of it and arched an eye at her curiously. "I mean going back to face your people like this, in the middle of a war."

"Oh you have no idea." He grinned, but somehow Stacia knew it to be fake, and nervous.

"Especially for me." He said absentmindedly, threatening to lose himself again in thought.

"Why?" She probed, not willing to let him get away that easily.

"Because I am a Cartagia." He said averting his eyes, and smiling bitterly. She looked at him curiously, he returned her gaze sadly. "He was a real monster, the greatest evil that has ever been on our planet before, he was responsible for the murder of thousands. And nearly caused our great Republic to be exterminated from the face of the Galaxy. As a result the name of Cartagia is something of a curse among my people, as are anyone who is related to him. And for good reason I suppose."

She mulled this information over, and then said tentatively, "Well I am a Clarke." He looked at her bitterly as if to say _how can your life compare to what I have gone through._ "Come on you have been on Earth enough, you have to realize the significance of what I just said." She said, trying to salvage the situation.

"President Clarke?" He narrowed his eyes in absolute and perhaps abject shock.

"The one and only."

"I see" he said, prompting her with his voice to continue to tell the story anyways, probably since he did not know any of the details himself.

"He assassinated the President of the Earth Alliance, Louis Santiago, took power, and used it to his advantage to instigate several programs designed to stir up anti alien sentiment, and…generally take power over the populace. He was unpopular, but no one knew what to do, some tried to rebel, and then John Sheridan ended it."

"I see, had to figure that he would come into this story somewhere." Vintari chuckled to himself at some other wise unknown joke, but reading the histories on the man Stacia knew exactly what he was talking about.

"And as a result, especially when I was younger, it seemed like I was a social pariah, hanging around people, only had a few friends. The rest of them treated me like the enemy. Especially those who had families that had suffered personally at the hands of the Clarke 'administration', could not separate me from the name that I belonged to."

"I see, at least you were not ripped off to something that was a birth right." He said bitterly.

"No. And it all changed when I joined Earth Force, they gave me a home, a purpose."

He closed his eyes sadly, "I am sorry that was…unkind." He then adverted his eyes and looked at her cross wise bemusedly. "I guess its still in my genetics, the genetics of a Cartagia, the genetics and soul of a _monster_. Its something that I still fight with almost every single day." He then laughed out loud, leaning back in the chair with his hands behind his head. "Its ironic really, when you think about it. If I had never met John Sheridan _I_ would be leading this invasion force against Humanity. Setting my name in the stars with the Vorlons, the Shadows, Clarke, Cartagia, Attila the Hun, and Hitler."

"I am sure it is not all that bad." Stacia volunteered trying to be helpful.

"It is." He sighed sadly yet again. "All the hate, all the anger, all the mistrust of my youth, the feeling that the whole world was against me and that the only way that I could solve the problem was by taking power, by seizing it, and by putting fear and crushing all of my enemies. Especially over that idiot," he smiled at her letting her know that he did not mean what he was about to say, "Vir Cotto"

He sighed again, then chuckled heartily. "It is still something that I am dealing with even to this day."

"I see." She said with sympathy.

She directed the conversation over to more mundane matters of state, politics, and even local sports, which Cartagia seemed to be a fan of football.

On the bridge Captain Patterson had just accepted the latest status and update from an passing NCO as she went off to go attend to the rest of her duties. He gazed over it quickly, taking in the expected information in a flash.

Nothing, thank the Universe.

The Bridge crew, all that were on duty since he sent the main people off to an early lunch, were tense. They were now two light years back into the Centauri border regions, two light years into Centauri Space, and everyone was tense, attending to their duties with the utmost of care. Being so far back in enemy space a single mistake could kill you, or worse.

"Nothing to report?" Norman said coming up behind his Captain.

"No James." The Captain sighed, letting his discipline drop in the face of the tension. "Thankfully."

"Just cosmic dust and distant star systems, some distant sensor probes from passing patrols. Nothing to really report." the Captain iterated gesturing with the pad.

"Well no reason for a CAP then." Norman said.

"No, not yet but soon." He looked at his first officer. "I know you disagree with me sending the crew to go eat early. But…well they deserve it. This mission soon is going to be one of the most difficult in our history. And I need them to march on their stomachs at full."

"Understood Captain." Norman said, getting the logic, but it left them under manned at this specific point in time.

"We have a long way yet to go Colonel." The Captain said sounding determined.

Michael Keegan was standing over a console in the hanger bay working on, again, the state of the armory and the rest of the inventory that he had available, without the possibility of re-supply as long as they were on this specific mission. Which meant conservation, which meant rationing, especially with the larger ordinance, and with fuel.

A door whooshed open and he looked up to see Stacia enter. He was surprised to see her here, and she went right over to her.

"I decided to check the Starfuries." She explained.

"Really?" He asked her.

"Yeah I needed the excuse to come down here. Nothing to do in engineering."

"Oh Anders is just going to love that." He grinned back at her.

"I 'm sure." She said realizing.

"So…an excuse?"

"Yeah I just wanted to come down here, do my duty, and see you."

"Yes but we _are_ on duty." He reminded her.

"Yes…so those Starfuries."

"This way." he said gesturing to the hanger deck and letting her lead.

On the bridge, still nothing, they were still heading for the destination of Centauri Prime, and were about to turn 'south' away from the Vorlon Border and begin the final leg.

It was a true miracle that they had not been detected, they had been through three or four hours worth of sneaking around Centauri space.

Maybe they did have a little luck.

But that was not something that Patterson was going to count on for the rest of the journey. And he was waiting constantly for the other shoe to drop.

The crew stations were fully manned, as far as he was concerned that this was critical hour. The time that he was expecting when he gave the order for the crew to take the extra time off. Now they were preparing for the battle that was to come

Not knowing what that battle would bring, so he had all the of the stations manned in order to deal with any possible threat.

They were alert in their duties as well, staring at their screens intently. And that is how they noticed what was happening.

"Captain, I am detecting something down range." A senior sensor officer said reading from his console as it flashed at him.

"Analyses." Patterson said turning in his seat.

"Nothing, well I cannot get a handle on it. It seems to be a gravitic anomaly in the hyperspace. Almost like a hyperspace bubble."

"English please Ensign." Colonel Norman said glaring.

"I do not know, I am just doing it to the best of the sensors abilities, even the computer does not know what is going on." He retorted, hardly chastised.

Patterson smiled at that and held up his arm holding off the reprimand that was coming from his first officer. "Analyze, what do you think?"

"If I had to guess it almost seems as though that someone is drawing power directly from the hyperspace for something."

"Can you determine what?" Patterson asked.

"Not from here."

"Can you at least localize it?" Patterson said getting somewhat frustrated by the lack of information.

"No sir, I cannot get the sensors to lock on to it from here. It is something that is non localized, it is just coming from an area just under a light year away."

"Suggestions." Patterson volunteered.

"If we launch a probe down range the closer that it gets to the source, the better the chance we can localize and then get a better picture of what we are dealing with."

"I see. Helm, all stop, firing control, launch a mark 12 recon probe, have it hover for a second and then go to the source and see what is going on."

"Aye sir, all stop, launching probe." Norman said.

The Mark 12 recon stealth probe was a brand new design straight from Earth Force R&D. They only had two aboard, it had the same stealth suite and armor that makes up the Raptor, along with a ingenious drive system that limited emissions down to almost nothing.

The probe launched and sped to the target.

It would take several hours to complete.

"What do you think it is?" Norman came up and asked Scot Patterson.

"I do not know, I guess we will see." He responded gingerly to his first officer.

"We shall, what should we do in the mean time?"

"I think we should review and update all of our intelligence. Navigation, I need you to update our route, this gravitational fluctuation might change it."

"Understood sir." The officer in charge of navigation said.

"Very Well." Patterson said stepping into the rear of the office.

The probe took three hours to complete its mission, and finish checking out the area in front of it. Taking notes, and scans of the area, before it made the return trip to the EAS _Gandalf_ where its information was uploaded and picked apart piece by piece by dozens and dozens of systems and information analysts.

An hour after that it was ready for review.

"Wow." Keegan said with the pictures and scans on the table that was before them.

It showed…dots, in front of a big structure in the middle of space. Highlighted against the back drop of the stars.

"That is a lot of ships." Norman agreed with the assessment of the situation.

"And that…is that Vorlon technology?" Stacia asked pointing at the big structure in the back ground.

"Looks it." One of the sensor and intel officers said. "It looks as though it is a ship yard, or factory, it is drawing its energy through an organic tether from the jump gate directly into its matrix. Using it to build stuff."

"Defenses?" Norman asked.

"Seem to be directed by these automated new class Centauri defense platforms. And the huge escort fleet, twenty escorts and looks like 12 capitol ships, anchored. by the defense platforms."

"Vintari you think that this is what has given the Centauri there big advantage?"

Vintari leaned forward into the light, "it is certainly possible." he volunteered unhelpfully. "But, I do know back when I reentered Centauri Space a few years ago was that we found something that could have turned the entire tide of the entire Centauri people. Give us our domination back."

"Well it looks as though we need to get this out to the Fleet command in order to draw up a plan, because we cannot deal with this on our own." Patterson said.

"Its going to be tough though…for our fighters. We are going to need to go after the defense systems." Keegan said, uneasily.

"Yeah, I agree." Stacia Clarke said. "We also should check and re check all of the systems, and everything that we have available to repair them."

"We also have to worry about our mission, and keeping it secret, if we go to the fleet it will be making our position aware to the rest of the fleet."

Patterson thought it over and thumped the table. "Not really, General Baker knows that we are here and we can go to him. If we go to them and they put together a task force, and assigns us to it…because make no mistake they are going to at least give us some role to play, then the rest of the squadron does not have to know why we are here."

"We should go off the grid when we make contact with the fleet." Norman supplied.

"Agreed, I will have us go about .2 light years off the beacon when we transition into normal space and send out message. Dismissed." Patterson said.

Stacia and Keegan went down to engineering, he was walking her there.

"Pretty scary, eh?" She asked.

"But it makes sense, that the Vorlons would have something to do with this. And the technology as far as autopilots to make this work over the years."

"Indeed" she responded. "Still the war is almost over." She volunteered.

"Yeah this has been our war, and our time, and I pray it is over too. I am getting tired of it to be honest with you." Keegan said

"I know, and so am I. But none of us can predict the future, and we need to be here in order to prevent us from being conquered or eliminated throughout all of time. Who knows what threats might be there, waiting in the shadows?"

"I know," Keegan said uncomfortably.

They were at engineering and they decided to go there separate ways.


	13. Battle of the Hub

Captain Patterson and the senior staff were in the war room, still waiting around for the mission briefing to start.

They had given the inteligence information to the nearest Earth Alliance squadron, and it was rushed up the chain of command. But, not fast enough, they were taking a long time to act on it, instructing the _Gandalf_ to monitor the situation, and patrol the area.

Then they had ordered Patterson to proceed at full speed in order to rendezvous with the fleet. Then nothing.

So they were sitting there in the middle of deep space, waiting for the fleet, or a message. Where every second, knowing the Vorlon technology, they could be building thousands of warships.

Finally: "Captain we are receiving a hail from the Earth Alliance Command."

"Put it through here." Patterson ordered to the wall com.

"James" The image said as it resolved.

"General Baker, sir." James Patterson said saluting to the senior officer in front of him.

"We are going to attack. And we agree with your assessment, it seems to be a Vorlon factory, and with the Centauri building this massive force, we need to attack. The exact units that are going to be involved with this thing is the issue. We are going to be hitting them with nearly sixty ships."

"Will we be involved?" Norman asked.

"Of course Colonel." General Baker said annoyed. "Commodore Foley is going to be leading the mission. When he and the rest of the fleet arrive in a couple of hours he will give you a more proper briefing. He is still trying to come up with an assault plan."

"Understood" Patterson said turning the screen off.

"So what do we know about this Commodore Foley?" Stacia asked to the assembled room.

"Not much." Patterson said ruffling his hair, running his fingers through it, annoyed at the further delay. The promise of action called to him for the first time in a long while. Probably before he took command of the _Gandalf_.

Michael Keegan and Stacia Clarke were marching down one of the corridors on the EAS _Gandalf._ They were going to the briefing that was going to be given by Commodore Foley. They were running just a bit late, but that was not much of the situation since the EA Squadron had just arrived moments ago. Oddly the Commodore was giving his briefing on board the _Gandalf_.

They arrived into the room with officers and men rushing hither and thither throughout the corridor, they had to bump their way through the mess and found their way to the main briefing table, where Foley was giving his briefing, pointing things out to Captain Patterson and Colonel Norman.

"Ah Lt. Keegan, glad you could make it." Foley said.

"Actually you arrived just in time, I am about to explain the roles of the Marines and the Fighters in this particular assault. Ensign." He said indicating an officer, who clicked a button and the picture changed.

"These are the defense platforms that the Centauri have placed in a ring around the main ship yard. They are basically big on anti ship, our vessels cannot even get close to them. That will be the job of the fighters and the shuttles, to get in close and to destroy the defense platforms, as the main force draws off the war ships and engages them in combat. As this is happening shuttles will thread the needle and board the shuttle, placing a nuke at the center of the matrix to weaken the enemy organic armor, then the rest of the fleet will destroy it."

"Sounds risky" Norman said.

"Yes, your Captain of Marines will lead the assault, they will break out into three teams and fight their way to the center. And then blow up the yards."

"Interesting, losses?" Patterson asked.

"Hopefully minimal, this will be our first major engagement where we will have numbers and fire power decidedly on our side. The fighter force might take heavier losses."

"Typical" Keegan said under his breath.

"What is that Lt.?"

"Nothing sir. I will go let my people know, and then we will be ready to engage."

"Very well, we have twenty minutes before I would like us to engage the enemy base."

They were dismissed and Keegan immediately assembled his Squadron commanders.

"Well, as usual it is us who is going to bare the brunt of the capital ship engagement, we are going into the battle again, going after the defensive perimeter around the base." He explained rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

His squadron commanders just smiled back at him wolfishly and knowingly.

"Well get to it, you have your assignments."

"Yes sir." They left the room in unison saluting as they went, before rushing out, knowing they had a lot of tasks they had to do in a brief time.

The stations were manned, and the tone on the bridge was set for battle stations. The pilots were in their planes and were ready for a reversion to real space, within seconds of being transferred into it. More then One hundred thousand kilometers out, right in the outer ring of patrol ships.

Commodore Foley's voice was counting down on the intercom "Stand by to revert to real space….5.…4.…3.…2.…1."

The ships transferred. Fighters deployed and jetted to their targets. Defensive systems on all sides aligned and opened fire, as main offensive weapons opened fire criss-crossing in mid space with a ring of death.

"Sir two ships are within our combat radius, they look like light cruisers, dreadnaughts are moving to intercept us." They said.

"Good, get offensive weapons on the two cruisers, but hold our main cannons in reserve for the moment. Sensors keep a constant eye on our fighters." Patterson ordered, getting nods in response.

Fighters from both sides just charged at each other, and fired, at close range, blowing up, explosions rippling across the back drop of space on both sides of the lines.

"OK, flights, Alpha's One through five take on the fighters directly in front of us, the rest of you cover the right and hold them there. Beta Squadron you are on the left, punch a hole in their lines. Charlie cover Delta as they go for the instillations, follow beta in the lines."

He got clicks in response as Keegan went back and maneuvered, firing at will, at all that was in front of him. He bagged two fighters that were in front of him. Another was bagged by an anti fighter missile from a passing Thunderbolt.

Then he maneuvered out of the way, spinning over on his retros letting his target pass, then he put in a pair of anti ship blasts into its back positively ripping apart.

They then flew through the remains of the enemy fighter, and descended upon the defense platforms that were already being engaged by the Earth Alliance fighter force.

The assault shuttles were passing by the first row of defense platforms, they passed unheeded as the defense platforms could not lock on, being on automated defense. And the biggest threat to them was the fighter force that they could not quite lock on to.

They proceeded to engage in evasive maneuvers as they approached the ship yard. breaking off and away as the stations finally picked up on them and fired, destroying one of the shuttles.

The rest proceeded to make hard lock on the ship yard, and attached, beginning the process of cutting through the tough outer skin. More apt usage of that term then normal.

Captain Patterson watched as the two angry red flames of war reached out and scoured the Battle Cruiser that was in the process of dueling with them. High energy pulses from a Nike ripped into an escort ship off its bow, as the two explosions combined and intermingled.

The deck beneath Patterson's feet shook as a near miss ran into the _Gandalf_ at full power.

The _Gandalf _responded with a full broadside of four of its ion guns, the explosion just reaching across the bridge.

"Well here we are fully engaged." He muttered to himself. "Helm, we are going off of our position slightly, adjust our course by ten degrees and plug up the hole. Let no ship past our ring. Light batteries continue to concentrate on fighter defense."

Another hit rocked the ship slightly, he sighed, he was getting so tired of this.

Captain of the Marines was the first off the assault shuttle that had made hard lock with the Vorlon factory. His PPG rifle was out in front of him, he turned on the flash light component alighting the area in front of him. He paused for effect.

"Alright, we need to hook up with the other two shuttles in our section, this way." He said maneuvering down the hall with his weapon pointing out in front of him, and scanning it, hoping to meet up with one of the teams, the bomb trailing in his wake.

His team followed him down the corridor weapons drawn, with two rear guards looking back to make sure that they were not being followed.

Towards the other end of the facility another one of the teams from another ship was traveling towards the center of the station, quickly, bomb trailing in their wake as well, as they surrounded it, and were moving at a rapid pace, hoping no defenses saw them.

Suddenly one of them in the back, a female, screamed, they spun around hoping to deal with the threat, but were shocked at what they saw.

Their screams echoed throughout the corridor.

Michael Keegan led a charge with the charge of him and two Raptors on his wing. The defense station was sitting right there in front of them, as they were trying to lock it up, they all knew what they had to do in order to successfully pull off the destruction of the fifth station conducted by the _Gandalf_ air wing.

He launched two of his missiles into the bottom power part of it, and then spun off, the rest of the Raptors went on to the top and the middle of the station ripping it to shreds.

"Good job Alpha Squadron, I am running out of ammo and weapons on my ship and my fuel is running low, must have taken damage, I am returning to the barn, Charlie One you have the group until I get back."

"Copy _Gandalf_ lead." He got in response.

He turned off and dove back for the base ship at full speed. Towards the centerline of the battle, he went fully on dark and on full stealth mode, just being guided back to the _Gandalf_ in the dead of space.

Explosions arched across his face plate. He paused to look at it, it was a truly beautiful sight, watching them in the distance. The colors clashing with one another, as ships did battle with ships, as thousands of men worked on defeating their opponents.

He was approaching the ship rapidly, hoping to get back into the fight soon and hopefully defeat the threat that was posed from the Centauri.

Captain Patterson was watching the same view from the perspective of his command chair, more isolated sitting back in the end of the fleet. Watching the pretty flashes of light just flash into existence for a moment and then flashing out the next. Only to be repeated again seconds later.

"Sir, it looks as though something is approaching the fleet from the Centauri formation, I cannot get an exact read on it and where it is coming from, but it is approaching fast."

"Could it be one of our fighters?" Patterson asked.

"No impossible, approaching on the wrong vector, and there are many of them coming in. Three of them are bearing right for us."

"Get the defense grid on it."

"Unable to comply Captain, we cannot get a lock on."

"Why not?" Colonel Norman growled at the young officer manning the sensor station.

"I cannot get a key lock on it." The sensor technician said.

"Sir some of our fighters are coming back from their missions."

"Let them in Lt." Patterson said nodding and then going over to the helm to see if he could determine what was going on.

Captain kurylenko was marching down the hall way, cautiously. He was about to turn a corner, and hugged the wall, weapon up against his shoulder and him glaring down the gun sights as he rounded the corner.

What he saw shocked him, so much that he put his weapon barrel down, and looked up, then looked up with the flashlight on his weapon trying to determine what he saw in front of him as his men and women filled in behind him.

One of them gasped, appropriately.

The view in front of them was one of abject horror. Before him was one of the Marines, obvious by her gear, and she was stripped down to her skivvies. Funny yellow, green, and tan growths were breaking out over her skin, sort of like the organic armor on the encounter suites. Mainly around her neck and chest.

The other was male, and was almost fully encased in that stuff. Both of them had feral looks on their faces, as they were studying each other. They were increasingly feral, and aggressive.

Then one of them made an inhuman noise and charged, the woman on the left. Jose hip fired his PPG rifle dropping her with three bursts, two to the stomach and one to the chest.

The other one charged on the left and picked up his squad mate on the left, and then broke her neck.

Jose fired on him at full auto, the pulses of plasma making techno colored shadows on the wall as it pounded into the target, ineffectually, spreading out over the entire body, without much harm being done.

"Fall back fall back!" Jose said, panicking for the first time in his career.

His target charged at him, the personal manning the controls to the nuke sled jammed it in full reverse, tripping over one retreating marine, who got up in a hurry, and leveled fire on the incoming enemy.

And growths were breaking out on the female marine who had fallen.

Michael Keegan exited his fighter and was approaching Anders to see what the problem was.

He was about to open his mouth to speak, when a roar brought his attention around to another Raptor that was coming in for a landing, he was curious about this. But only for a second or so, he probably needed resupply too.

But something caught his eye and he turned to face it.

A rapidly moving green blur was speeding directly at the hangar deck. Keegan wondered what it was as it slammed into the decking and slid for about five or six meters, trailing a wake of sparks as it tore into the plating on the ship.

It resolved itself into a bipedal form, with spiked hair. A Centauri. It moved up his right arm and pointed it around, it sounded like it was charging up with a whir, and the distinct smell of burning atmosphere. Keegan was stunned at the events that was taking place before his eyes.

He was shoved out of the way as a bolt of yellow energy exploded from its right hand, ripping into the outer wall, the smell of burnt flesh greeted his nose, he turned and saw Anders grimace, but they both drew their PPGs and opened fire on the target.

The other people in the room also drew their weapons, including rifles and then opened fire on the target as well.

After about a minute of intense fire the thing was burned to the ground, in a charcoaled mess of flesh and organic mass.

"What was that?" One of the Marines asked.

"I do not know Sergeant, lets help secure the rest of the ship and move on to the next target, we have to get going." Keegan said and then pointed as the rest moved out.

The ship rocked nearly knocking anyone who was standing off their feet and onto the deck.

"Were we hit?" Norman said sounding a bit unnerved.

"No, it does not appear to be so." One of the damage control officers said. "But I am getting reports of severe decompression and hull breaches on multiple areas of the ship."

"Sir it looks as those things have collided with us." the sensor officer said from his station typing on his console quickly.

"Sir this is Lt. Mitchell, it seems as though we have been boarded, we are going to round up the intruders before they can do anything, but we are having a hard time repelling them."

"How many of them are there?" Norman asked into the intercom.

"We have just seen about the three of them so far, could be more."

"You are having trouble with three?" Norman asked skeptically.

"They seem to be encased in Vorlon technology sir." The Lt said.

"Repel them at all costs, Ensign" he pointed at a random crew member, "seal off the bridge, we must continue the action."

"Aye sir."

"Sir, we are receiving a hail from the command ship. Its Commodore Foley."

"Put him on." Patterson said sitting in his chair.

"Status report Patterson." Foley said grimly.

"We have been boarded, threat unknown."

"We have gotten similar reports from the rest of the fleet, three ships so far."

"I see." Patterson said.

"How is your combat capability? Has that been compromised?"

"Negative."

"Good stick with it, Foley out." The screen shut off.

A Centauri cruiser was caught in a three way cross fire with three Earth Alliance ships including the _Gandalf_, as tons of ionic energy slammed into the bow of the Centuri vessel, ripping its armor to shreds, and then gutting it from the inside out.

Jose kurylenko fired his weapon at yet another one of the drones, as he was charging forward, he fired fourteen bursts, and then hit him over the head with the butt end of his rifle, dropping him dazed. He recovered but only to be whacked by a much heavier rifle round.

"We do not have much time, we need to get to the center of the station, this way!" He said leading the mad rush, figuring that time was working against him.

Another Centauri ship was gutted, another ship destroyed, and several fighters down. The fleet battle was on the tipping point, and turning rapidly in the favor of the Earth forces, but they were compromised and the result might have been both fleets just being mutually destroyed.

On the _Gandalf _repelling teams went about the ship trying to get the 'drones' off of the ship by any means necessary. They seemed determined to get to firing control and then to engineering in order to take the ship and prevent it from firing. The Marine teams were busy trying to prevent them from doing so.

To Patterson this was a nerve racking experience. His ship was in danger from within by highly advanced forces and there was nothing that he could do about it at the present time.

He wanted to pace, wanted to scream, wanted to run around in circles, but he concentrated on something that he could resonate. The battle, he could control the battle at hand. So he forged all the nervous energy that he could and used it to focus his concentration on the space battle at hand, hyper attuning everything onto that one goal.

And the entire fleet paid for it in full, as the Centauri broke themselves on the Earth lines, the entire formation was falling apart, the defense platforms shattered, as the EA ships began to tighten the noose.

Lt. Mitchell ducked around a bulkhead as a bolt of energy nearly cleaved him in two. He slammed the emergency release home sealing the last three of the drones off from the rest of the ship, then he linked the bridge.

"Sir Lt. Mitchell for you."

"Put him on." Patterson said moving over, calmly, to the station.

"Sir, I have sealed the Vorlon suites behind one of the bulkheads, they are trapped but I do not know for how much longer the bulkheads will hold against their firepower."

Patterson had to switch gears in a hurry. "Vent it to space, fire our interceptors at the target and prepare to come about and make for the station."

He got a chorus of acknowledgments back.

It worked as planned too, they went out just far enough, then the high energy ions ripped them to shreds and took them completely out, ripping them up. Then the _Gandalf_ turned at full speed at the enemy and launched streams of energy in bolts ripping through defenses followed by precise and unnerving Missile strikes.

On the station Captain Jose kurylenko and the Marine assault team was almost right on top of the matrix that they were supposed to eliminate with the bomb, they had just passed through an area that looked as though it was making spare parts, and looked down through the top of the translucent ceiling to see one of the warships under 'construction' at the facility here.

They cut through a corridor, and took two of the drones by complete surprise.

They were within meters of launching their final attack, and not a drone insight from what they could determine from the area. He led the way, cautiously again, so close to their objective, that one slip up could have stopped the whole operation in its tracks.

They got to the center and kurylenko did one more check around with the rifle before ordering the nuke into position.

"Set it for seven minutes"

"That is not nearly going to be enough time for us to get out of here." The female NCO complained bitterly.

"We will have to try. We cannot afford this to wait for the drones to come here and disarm this thing, we will need to hustle."

"What about the other squads?" The sergeant of the squad asked.

"We are just going to have to assume that they did not make it. We must complete our mission."

"OK its set."

"Move out then, move move move," he said pumping his fists wildly as the whole squad moved at as a single group.

Through the winding twisting corridors at a blinding pace, as they sprinted, just barely missing a shot being fired from one of the drones as they ducked around one of the corners and sped towards their exfil, before the drone even had a chance to react.

And so they ran, head long, just as the nuke exploded, nearly knocking the team off their feet, as they nearly lost their balance and crashed into the wall of organic mess. kurylenko was right, the armor was able to absorb part of the initial explosion, but he was well aware of what was coming.

"Come on!" he urged his team on, sweat breaking out on his bow in streams and pools as he ran with his team, knowing that if they did not hurry they were about to be incinerated.

Commodore Foley came up on the screen in auto play. "To the fleet, the nuke has been detonated, destroyers brace for combat and keep the wagons safe, Dreadnaughts and Assault Vectors, move in close and destroy the enemy facility."

"What the?" Patterson said as he signaled to the com officer who established a channel. "Sir, our Marines are not out yet."

"I know Captain but we do not have a lot of time, sensors indicate that reinforcements are coming, and due to the pounding we have taken we cannot take much more, we have to destroy this and pull out."

"Understood" He said harrumphed.

The battle wagons got into position, surrounding and ringing in the station as they began to fire. Quantum beams ripped into the organic skin, ions slammed, and large sheathes of flesh from the exterior, and venting the lose atoms into space.

The only shuttle blasted off, as they just barely made it off as the station exploded in shards of organic matter, the shuttle blasted off for its ship, returning the Marines, and then the _Gandalf_ blasted off to space.


	14. The Final Arc

The _Gandalf_ had settled into orbit of Centauri Prime, a message had been sent, and they were sitting out there, beyond the planetary defenses, \ on full alert. Oddly no ships had come out and meet them, nor had there been any ships in the area when they jumped in. But, Patterson was not taking any chances.

Right now the only one who did not have anything to do was Michael Keegan. He was bored just tapping on the table in the flight briefing room, the only one in there as everyone else had tasks to do to prepare the ship for war.

Patterson had Charlie and Delta flight on emrgecy alert. So Alpha had nothing to do, most of them were reading books or catching up on mail. He was too wired for that, and the only people who he cared about were on the ship, and subsequently busy.

He heard the door open and saw Anders standing there. He saluted crisply and Keegan returned the favor, standing and moving to join the Squadrons' mechanic.

"Sir." Anders greeted closing the door behind him.

"Chief." Keegan greeted heartily.

"You wanted to see me sir?" Chief Anders said.

"Yeah actually, I wanted to thank you."

"Sir?"

"For saving my life in the battle of the ship yards."

"Oh it was nothing sir, I would do it for anyone."

"I know but given our problems-" Keegan cleared his throat nervously.

"It was nothing." Anders said again.

"Just wanted to let you know I appreciate. And that me and Stacia are going to a restaurant that she knows on Earth when this is all over, wanted to know if you could come?"

"I will think about it…sir" he said saluting as he left the room.

On the bridge Captain Patterson was sitting in his chair, his own fingers were tapping on the arm rest of his chair. He was waiting too. All the stations were manned and ready, and there was a nervous energy.

He could feel it, and that feeling made him feel restless and uneasy, just waiting to spring into action.

The Centauri knew they were there. But no attack, no return hail. It made him nervous.

But Vintari was in one of the emergency disaster bunkers in the ship to try and protect him from the environment and from attack in the event of one.

He glanced curiously at communications as the station started to beep. "Captain, we are receiving a real time hail from the planet surface."

"Put it up." Patterson said.

"About time." Norman grumbled underneath his breath.

On the screen a young looking Centauri resolved himself, a curious but haughty look on his face as he regarded the Earth Alliance officers. Patterson's lips unintentionally pulled back into a feral sneer.

The Centauri on the screen resolved himself into a more neutral expression as he spoke. "Your message has been received, and permission has been granted, you may land your forces on our planet in order for an audience with the Emperor."

"Why the delay?" Patterson said evenly and diplomatically.

"Well you have to understand that the appearance of an Earth Alliance Warship that claims to be carrying an exiled former prince would cause a bit of a-" the man's eyes twinkled aggressively and his lips moved in a ironic smile, "shock. Naturally the Centarum would have had to convene on this matter to determine an appropriate course of action. Which, you will be seen."

"I understand." Patterson said.

The screen turned off.

"Well, that was easy." Norman said simply.

"Indeed….coms, alert Vintari to meet us in the main hangar in five minutes."

"Us?" Norman said taken aback.

"That's right I am leading this mission." Patterson said getting out of his chair and marching on down to the hangar.

Norman followed him down into the hangar as, Patterson went into the locker to get his battle gear.

"Sir, Earth Alliance regulations state that I cannot let you go and must go into your place in a dangerous and hostile environment."

"Indeed, but this is also a foreign power and the Captain has the discretion to go down being the senior officer available at the present time. Ah Captain." Patterson said as Jose came out of his own armory. "Are your men assembled?"

"Yes sir."

"Good mount up." Patterson said as he too approached the shuttle, and then turned in the doorway as Norman made a grunting noise.

"Colonel, its going to be a long haul, I need to do this, I feel it. Take good care of her, don't lose her."

"Yes sir," Norman said reluctantly.

Patterson turned and entered the ship, his stomach tightened and bubbled with absolute excitement, like he had never felt for years. The war would rest on the actions that were about to be taken by his crew.

The convoy assembled with five shuttles and Alpha squadron launched towards the planet. On full alert, but with their targeting systems off, approaching the atmosphere of the Centauri planet quickly, but yet cautiously.

The small armada of ships burst into the lower atmosphere of the planet and began to level off at about eight kilometers up. Shedding speed slightly moving in all the more cautiously.

Auto cannons were hidden amongst the buildings, getting a better lock on for the ships, until it was too late.

"Sir!" The EWO said n a panic as the low beam lock on finally tripped the alert sensors.

The convoy scattered, throwing off counter measures.

The ion battery fire opened up on the convoy from multiple directions, blowing the wing off one of the shuttles., causing it to go into a spin and explode on the ground.

Michael Keegan was in his fighter and ran a panicked but expert eye over the combat systems as he maneuvered away. Fighters were approaching his position from the other direction, by about 15-20 kilometers away. The trap was properly laid.

He then kicked his fighter into a radical turn, even then straining his inertial systems as he turned to face the threat and ignore the fire power coming at him from the surface below. Their only saving grace was the fact that his stealth systems were operating fully, forcing the enemy to close to point blank range.

His mind finished analyzing the information flooding into it and he started to bark orders to the assembled pilots.

"Alpha's 1-4 plus 6 move on to take the fighter force, Alphas 7-12 hit the planetary cannons and clear the way for our forces."

He got clicks back in response.

"Sir, I should join up with you and fight the fighters." The thick accent of Alpha 5 drifted over the nets.

"Negative. We cannot afford it, follow the shuttles down and make sure they land safe." Keegan said, his brow furrowing as he concentrated on the displays in front of him.

"Understood" the reluctant pilot said in response.

Colonel Norman looked up startled as an alert sounded from a station as a young Petty Officer moved to answer the hail.

"Sir, the task force has been jumped, they are being attacked by Centauri ground and space forces."

Norman mulled this information over and wondered what he could do about it other then launch more fighters.

But he was interrupted again by yet another call, "sir, multiple Jump Points are-"

The ensign himself was interrupted as the lights flickered and the ship rocked nearly removing the decking from the un prepared Colonel.

"Sir, four Centauri cruisers just emerged from hyperspace and have opened fire on us!" the same Ensign said panicked.

"I can see Ensign." He said in a huff. "Deploy defense grid to maximum and put all remaining fighters on stand by and prepare to repel the enemy ships."

The four Cruisers moved in a diamond formation as they rained down plasma on the Earth Alliance Destroyer, causing explosions to ripple across the hull and armor.

The shuttles hit the ground outside an industrial complex hard, bouncing off the ground hard before finally settling on the ground.

Personnel from them poured out of the shuttles and instantly ran for cover as half of the Alpha squadron eliminated the anti air batteries on the ground before moving to rejoin the battle taking place in the air.

Michael Keegan twisted his fighter around, rolling it over, just barely avoiding an air to air missile which exploded when it failed to require a viable target.

He let the fighter pass him and then put a missile into its intake manifold, ripping the ship in several component pieces.

He looked around and saw that they were alone now, and that the shuttles had landed.

"Alright Alpha Squadron this is Alpha 1, all remaining fighters head back to the barn, evac the site there is nothing further we can do for the ground forces."

He then rolled himself up and headed into the upper atmosphere for breaking out into space, on his scanners he could just make out the battle that was developing between the two forces.

He raised the _Gandalf_. "_Gandalf, Gandalf,_ this is Alpha squadron requesting permission to land."

Colonel Norman sighed internally, too many things to deal with. The thick acidic taste of burnt circuits greeted his lips as he considered his course of action.

"Helm, lay in a course back, we have to cut them off and intercept them or they will be picked off by the batteries of the Centauri as they come in for a landing."

The helm and tactical officers analyzed the orders, and it was the tactical officer who had the concern "we have to reposition ourselves to the cruisers, they will hit us then and do major damage to us when we move to pick up the fighters, and we have already suffered extreme damage."

"Understood." Colonel Norman thought for a second, "launch those defense satellites, put them in a missile and fire them."

"That will take a couple of moments." Tactical warned.

"Then quit yakking and get to work." Colonel Norman snapped.

Michael Keegan's fighter force cleared the atmosphere and sped for the _Gandalf_, his fighters were about to land, though one fighter short.

But, his radar sounded the alarm and he ran his eyes over it as he saw another group of Centauri fighters exiting the atmosphere and moving to intercept them before they could make it back to the barn.

He cursed to himself before deciding on an action. "Alright everyone else go back to the barn, move it." He ordered.

"Negative." his second said.

"I will buy you time, we do not have enough firepower to take them out, only to buy time, which we cannot do if most of us go."

"Yes, sir." his second said reluctantly, knowing that he could not convince Keegan to change his mind.

Keegan shredded his speed slightly, letting the enemy fighter squadron catch up to him slightly, descending on him. He closed his eyes and held a breath there and then, turned back in.

He jacked the throttle up to full spearing right through the enemy formation which turned and twisted and scattered to get out of the way.

He had already bought his squadron valuable seconds to get away.

The _Gandalf _launched two missiles into deep space, which separated as dozens of defense satellites deployed, firing pulses covering their retreat back towards the fighters.

Keegan spun back in, having three fighters right behind him and two in his canopy trying to escape him, he achieved missile lock and fired his last two weapons, blowing them to shreds, his heart soared as he flew through the debris cloud that was spreading in his flight path.

He then spun on his retros and broke down back into the planet's atmosphere. Speeding down into the lower area of the planet before he would return, he then heard the message on his head set.

"Get back here, sir, we have safely landed on the _Gandalf _and are just waiting on you to get here before we jump."

He smiled relieved, his mission was complete.

In that instant a fighter achieved lock on him and fired a missile, which flew at him hard, causing the world to heave and rock and spin in front of him.

He tried to shake his head to clear it, but the world was still spinning in front of his face shield and was growing larger in his canopy.

He ran a rapid eye over his systems and controls, and he was loosing altitude rapidly. And had no more control over his speed, direction.

He made ready to eject from his fallen angel, but he was not in a right position to do so.

As the ground rapidly came up to meet him, as he crashed to the surface.

"Sir, Keegan is down." The flight control officer said paling slightly.

Norman felt the pain but he still had a ship to salvage, especially since the four cruisers were rapidly catching up on them, and were about to unleash the full power of their weapons, and of their fighter squadrons. He simply did not have the time.

"Prepare to jump on the exit vector."

"Colonel we cannot leave him down there!" Alpha 2 protested.

"I know but the orders was to ensure the safety of this ship, with the damage that we have taken in the initial strike, there is no guarantee that we can." Norman said with a slight growl.

"Course laid in Colonel." Helm announced.

"Jump" He said decisively.

The _Gandalf_ transferred back into the hyperspace, the Centauri Cruisers in hot pursuit.


	15. War Comes to Centauri Prime

His pounding head bought him back to reality. He squinted his eyes in pain trying to keep from waking up, but slowly they opened, his vision was blurry, and he was trying to clear his vision and make out his surroundings.

Michael Keegan was in a heap on a dirty floor in what looked as though a bombed out building.

An athletic buzz-cut Marine Corporal was the first one to notice him, he turned away and raised up his voice to an almost a blaring yell. "Sir, captain, the CAG is awake!"

He saw a blurred and undefined figure turn towards him curious, and then move on over at a fast pace. Keegan had to blink his eyes in one more attempt to clear his vision, it worked.

He could clearly see Captain Patterson coming over to him with a rather concerned look on his face.

"How are you feeling Lieutenant?" His Captain asked bending down to examine him.

"Well, my head is pounding and my body aches but I think I can walk sir." He responded trying to get up.

"Alright." Patterson said offering a hand.

Keegan seized it and got back up onto his two feet, wobbled for a second, and then straightened himself.

They walked into another room, with sun shining into it making shadows stretch across the drab gray interior, with the debris scattered across the field.

"What is this place? Keegan asked of his commanding officer.

Patterson stopped, paused, and then turned to his CAG to answer the question.

"It seems to be a factory of somesort that has been abandoned."

"And why? In fact why this area I cannot see any real sign of habitation in the general area?" Keegan turned to his Captain puzzled.

"We think this is one of the most damaged areas of the planet when the Narn and Drazi bombed it, and they were not able to repair this, it looks bombed out and destroyed and not able to finish the repairs on it. Leaving it desolate and worn down. Perfect landing space."

"I see. What's going on?" Keegan said glancing around curiously.

"Right now we are hunkering down here as I am having the Marines scouting out the surrounding area and we have equipment up scanning the radio waves and coms. Trying to gather intel before we go and try and infiltrate the Royal Court and try and get Vintari on the throne."

"So nothing right now?"

"No we are just hunkering down." Patterson said with a twisted expression.

A little while after that the technician manning the communication gear waved Patterson over. He came over curious along with the Captain of the Marines.

"What is it?" Patterson asked the person responsible.

"It seems we have intercepted a message pertaining to a resistance group."

"A resistance group?" Jose asked the technician.

"Indeed, no more details other then that but it came in that the Centauri are asking for them, some names that I could not quire make out."

"If we can use those to infiltrate the Royal Court…." Jose wondered his eyes sparkling in relief.

"Yeah but its coming over a government net, its not like they are giving coordinates, in fact just the opposite, they are asking for any help while reaffirming their efforts to catch them. No information on potential whereabouts."

"Still we know they exists and they know that we are here. All we have to do is seek them out and keep in mind that they are probably doing the same. An Earth Ship with an exiled prince on board could be a big boon." Patterson said considering and analyzing.

"Yeah, but they may not know about the Prince, just about our existence." Jose shot back. Then added "Sir"

"True, but keep on our toes." Patterson said walking off to walk the perimeter.

The troops were mulling around eating their rations on the factory floor, still waiting and on full alert for trying to do…whatever they were going to do to complete their objective.

But, they were grateful the rest before the two storms. The one getting here, and the one now. The troops were on edge, but were also relaxed, waiting to spring but not fully in combat mode either.

All except for their leader. Captain Patterson was wondering how the heck he was going get into the Royal Court. The task seemed to be insurmountable.

They were obviously in a hostile environment, with people that wanted to see them dead, massively outnumbered when they did not even have the terrain to their advantage.

It frustrated him no end, and left him brewing, and his mind working in over drive.

They had a great defensive position from infantry right here and now, but being in the defensive could not possibly bring about the result that he wanted.

Another frustration that caused his eyes to scrunch up and wrinkle in concentration.

The only thing that he could see that they had to their advantage was the resistance movement.

But they were a literal unknown and unquantifiable quantity on the battlefield.

So for the purposes of his thinking he had to act as though they did not exist at all.

This mission seemed doomed from the start, and James Patterson had never felt so trapped in his entire life. The fate of billions was lying on his shoulders, and he could not see a way through it.

Might have been a bit dramatic but that is what he had to deal with.

Jose went up to him and sat down bringing the Earth Alliance ration pasta.

"Sir"

"Captain." Patterson acknowledged the presence.

They both continued eating not saying or doing anything. Just eating and not saying a word between them.

"How do you deal with this? An impossible situation?" Patterson asked out of the blue.

"I find thinking outside the box usually helps in situations like this." Jose said, Patterson shot him a rather know it all look.

"Look in basic Marine tactics when dealing with a situation such as ours there is really only two things you can do. In basic. You can either go at them and try and over power them, or you can go around them, pole-vault over that fence. For instance."

"Go on." Patterson said intrigued.

"Now we do not have the forces to do the first, and we do not have the information to achieve the second." Jose said gesturing emphatically.

"So what you are saying is we are pretty much doomed?" Patterson said waiting to hear he was wrong.

"No, we just have to require some really far out of the box thinking if we hope to succeed."

"We could try a distraction, draw their forces away from the imperial palace?" Patterson suggested.

"No that is more in the second plan. It is just likely to put their forces on high alert in the palace, and just transfer forces from secondary bases, divide up our forces, and give them a place to search for us."

"So…then…what do you suggest?"

"Well if we cannot find a way to win by going to them, maybe we can win by having them come to us." Jose said simply, getting himself up off the ground and dusting off his knees.

That got the wheels turning.

Towards another building about a kilometer away two Marines were in an upstairs room, looking out through the scopes out scouting the area and giving the rest of the force warning.

It was boring and tedious work, just having each other for company and not really anything to talk about as they watched the gray background for any signs of potential danger.

"Hey take a look at this." One of the Marines told her comrade handing him the scouting scope.

"Wow, looks like trouble." He agreed staring into them for a long moment. Looking long and hard to make sure of what he was seeing, was what he was seeing.

"Yep." He said, focusing on one of the walls.

Along it a bunch of soldiers were trying to sneak along the walls, approaching them carefully and stealthily, trying to sneak up to the camp.

He radioed the home base. "Captain, about twenty or thirty foot mobiles are coming in from the North. Please advise."

"About time." Jose said putting his hands on the map bench.

"Very well, fall back to the base, carefully, do not allow yourself to be seen." Patterson ordered, getting a click back in response. Then he changed channels. "All recon fall back to home base, prepare for defense, be careful, hostiles are present."

The troops fell back quickly, and then got into defensive position waiting the storm.

The 'non combatants,' were getting ready too.

Jose went over to one of them and looked down on the crouching figure studying the PPG rifle uneasily.

"You sure you know how to use that thing?"

Keegan started. "Yeah, in theory, have not fired one since basic but I suppose its just riding a bicycle right?" Keegan turned around hefting the weapon loosely.

"A very dangerous rifle that shoots high energy plasma at its targets." Jose said walking off.

Keegan loaded a cap in and charged his weapon, putting up against his assigned window.

The building that they were in were over looking a court yard that was a square patch of gray and rubble, broken ground.

Across that on one wall were full of bombed out windows where they could fire easily out of. And in front of that was stairs leading up to a door near the top of the facility that provided access, where there were more Marines.

They had lured the Centauri into this trap. By sending a single deep into space, trying to get the _Gandalf_, a perfectly legitimate tactic to try and get themselves out or get more information.

And the Centauri had fallen for it.

They were starting to poor into the area, right in front of them, moving in carefully and cautiously, but still entering the area.

The Marines drew their weapons, and aimed down the sights on them and started to lock on target waiting for the ambush.

Including Michael Keegan, with Patterson overseeing it all with his PPG pistol.

Keegan was aiming down his sight, mouthing 'come on come on', waiting for them to get into the firing zone, waiting for the Captain to give them the word, as the Centauri continued to advance, the front more boldly, and the back still cautiously, getting set up.

Finally the order came down from the Captain.

The firing commenced at once, a volley of plasma a rapid fire wall of energy soared out to meet the Centauri forces.

Catching them square in the chest, the knee caps, and the arms, and face, dropping them down writhing in pain.

Also plasma bursts bounced off cobbles and stone fragments on the ground, further pounding them into dust.

Some Centauri looked for cover and could not easily find it, firing up with their blue discharges of energy at the building, causing it to fragment and break off, causing the troops to break away and take cover.

Bodies were strewn across the area.

Keegan was missing with many of the shots that he was firing, he was not really equipped for this and by no means was he an expert, especially considering that the Centauri were moving in a diagonal and evasive pattern, trying to get close enough to kill all the Marines.

The Marines taking cover in the stair well popped up and opened fire with their own weapons, swiftly taking down more Centauri at point blank range.

The Marine next to him collapsed after being hit and writhed out the rest of his life.

Keegan pointed his weapon upward and reloaded.

"Running out of charges!" He yelled to the space around him, remembering it from long practiced and long tried out training from years ago in his past.

"More ammo coming through!" Someone said throwing him two more caps that could be used later on in the battle.

And the Centauri continued to advance.

Despite stumbling over the bodies.

"Get down!" Someone yelled out.

Keegan dropped to the floor just as the window and space around him exploded in sparks, shrapnel, and splinters as blue balls of energy scoured the entire area scorching and destroying everything in their path.

Keegan got up hard to engage the enemy, and saw the three marines in the stairwell get shot down to the ground.

Keegan was starting to panic with all of the firepower going off around him, trying to acquire targets by spinning and jerking around. It was the building across the courtyard that they were firing from.

Butchering the Earth Alliance forces.

The door to Keegan's exploded in wood chips and splinters knocking him to one side, knocking him to the floor.

Patterson drew his pistol in a flash, instantly acquiring his target and squeezing off two plasma pulses that caught the Centauri square in the chest. Patterson held there shocked that he was able to pull that off.

Another Centauri entered the room hefting his bronze colored rifle through the door at the still shocked Patterson.

Keegan raised his weapon up and his body into a crouch grunting in pain as he fired a full powered burst of nearly a dozen pulses as he slammed the target into the door frame, causing him to collapse in a heap.

He was shocked, but had no time to think about his actions, only to react as he heard a rush of feet coming up the stairs.

He caught the first one through the door with a double tap of plasma, causing him to shriek and collapse.

Then a pulse hit him in the shoulder, and another in his chest, catching his clothing on fire and knocking him to the ground making him grimace in pain.

A swarm of boots entered the room at high speed, lots of guns waving around and a lot of bustling and barely audible shouting that he could not quite make out on the ground, he hit his head with his hand and could mow make out some words.

"Surrender humans!" One of the Centauri said.

Met with threats from the surviving Marines and the group around them. The two forces were about evenly balanced.

Then Vintari snuck up on them from behind with PPG rifle held down before him. But there was no way he could take them all out before they all shot at the remaining Marines.

"Soldiers." Vintari growled.

They all spun around and faced him surprised.

"Prince Vintari" One of them said with scorn.

"Captain." He responded back. "I claim my right as a Prince to be taken before the Royal Court, with these people under my protection."

"You are exiled, you have no rights." The Captain snarled back.

"I am a Royal Prince of the Centauri Republic. I do have the right to demand an audience with the emperor, instead we are treated like criminals. I will be seen."

The Captain froze, knowing the situation like he did he knew that if he killed Vintari and the humans there would be investigations galore.

"Very well. You may follow me."

The Captain led them out. Jose and one of the Sergeant's picked Keegan up by both of the arms and started to drag him, barely walking in pain, out the door.

Heading for the Royal Court.


	16. Making the Future Safe

_They were taken outside of the main palace, to a rocky area just outside of the gardens, a flat area that was surrounded by a wall of rock. _

_Seven people were there representing the Earth Alliance, Patterson, Vintari, Keegan, and four surviving Marines. _

_The Centauri had two dozen soldiers surrounding the small EA group. _

_In the center of the Centauri group was the current Emperor of the Centauri Republic. _

_He was a regal looking man, dressed in white clothes that clung to him tightly, making it hard for him to move around. He looked young for an ruler of a people, especially for the ruler of the Centauri. Patterson estimated he was 10-15 years younger then the Royal Prince that was before him. _

_The Emperor moved to approach them, walking haughtily, easily, and slowly, considering them as if one who would consider some lower bug like life form. _

"_So Prince Vintari, this is what you have reduced yourself to, paling around with humans of the Earth Alliance?" He sneered. _

"_That is so." Vintari said simply and without any heat. _

_The Emperor turned to regard the humans in the room. "And this is the crew of the infamous EAS Gandalf_." He said gesturing his arms wide.

"Captain Patterson your eminence." Patterson replied bowing slightly with his head trying to keep his voice even and respectful.

The Emperor turned back to the group in general and spoke to Vintari. "You stand accused of treason, the punishment is death, your friends will be taken as prisoners of war."

"Emperor, I do have the right to challenge you for leadership of the Republic, you did not show me the same when you took the throne, which makes my exile illegal." Vintari said his voice sounding bold and decisive.

"This is true." An elder member of the Centrum spoke up turning to face the emperor.

"So what do you suggest?" The Emperor asked sounding bored by the mere suggestion.

"A duel, under Centauri right any family can challenge any other family. I will challenge you for the rule of the planet."

"That is absurd!" The Emperor spat at Vintari, the spittle landing just in front of his feet.

"Actually there is precedent for this." The same member of the Centaurum said turning to look pointedly at the Emperor. "After all you wrested control from him for the planet that led to this situation. Its hardly improper for him to do it face to face."

"You have no say in this." The Emperor turned darkly to the minister.

"No, but the people do, who are wondering what is going to happen. If the ISA forces get here believe me there will be a reckoning. This has my support at least, and I doubt much of the Centaurum will back you."

The Emperor and the visitors looked around the faces of the assembled Centauri Council. All of them were stiff of back and were desperately trying to keep their faces impassive and neutral, all with varying degrees of success.

Everyone in the room knew what was going on. The Centaurum were being politically smart. Not willing to show support for either proposition in order to continue to serve and keep their jobs…and lives…if things went too far south.

Patterson imagined that if a similar situation would be brought before the Senate most of them would be acting exactly the same.

The only person bold enough was the old minister. Probably old enough not to care anymore what happened to his career which let him challenge the Emperor.

No one rose to his defense either, and no one rose to the Emperor's defense, but the ball was in the Emperor's court and it was only he who could decide.

Quite the coup, Patterson thought to himself, smiling.

"Very well." The Emperor said straightening himself and striking a regal pose, as he turned around with a swish of cloth. "We meet in an hour." he said receding back into the royal palace.

Awhile later Captain Patterson was chatting with his Captain of Marines, sitting in the gardens by Lt. Keegan who was badly injured and unconscious currently.

"Makes you wish that the message that we sent to the _Gandalf_ could have been real." Patterson said sadly, his guard down.

"Nothing could have been done about it. Right now they cannot help us. We are in enemy territory and a lot more lives would be risked then just Keegan's if they came to bail us out. For no good reason either."

"I know, I have been at this a long time. Just I am so sick of this, having people die under my command." Patterson said slumping back lazily.

"I know, it never gets easier. I have not been at this awhile, but I have lost a lot of people. But with luck this will be over soon and we can go home."

"I know." Patterson said, and then he noticed Vintari and decided to go over to the Centauri, heaving himself to his feet, and hurrying over there, composing himself as he went.

"Hello." Patterson said, opting for the simple approach to start this conversation going.

"Greetings Captain." Vintari said bowing slightly.

"You ready for this?" Patterson said more business like, studying the reactions of the man with intense scrutiny.

"Yeah, as ready as I will ever be, its been a long time since I have had practice with the blade." Vintari said uneasily, not uncomfortable with the fight ahead, but with his ability that was lagging over the last several months.

"Can you beat him?" Patterson said, keeping the worry out of his voice and his expression.

"Probably, affairs of state keep one from really keeping up with the finer points of life." Vintari said, looking at the Captain sideways while delivering a twisted smile.

Patterson could not help but crack a smile at that, giving Vintari a good pat on the shoulder.

The Emperor, the Royal Court, Centaurum came out of the main palace, a flock of cloth and women and men following in the wake of the Emperor to watch the spectacle.

"Show time." Patterson said watching the procession enter the gardens and move towards the area where they were at.

"Indeed." Vintari said sounding grave and determined.

Patterson moved off to one side, hiding himself partially by a wall as he leaned out to watch Vintari rigidly approach the Imperial procession.

A young Centauri female laid out a white silver cloth on the ground, and then took a leather scabbard that seemed full of bladed weapons, laying them out carefully on the ground side by side, two by two.

Vintari looked down apprehensively at the blades, running a careful eye over each of the sets. Not having much knowledge or practice with any one of them, just hoping the one that he picked his opponent would not be an expert in, and choosing the one that would make the best for his chances to claim victory.

His hands flexed a couple of times and then chose a blade, picked it up, hefted it, and then nodded.

The Emperor's eyes sparkled considering the choice, intrigued by the choice. Vintari smiled to himself knowing that he was probably in good hands.

The two picked a position opposite one another in the arena, and stripped down as much as possible to their fighting clothes. The rest of the procession filled in around the circle curiously watching the two combatants.

Patterson filled in next to Jose on one side, and his CAG on the other. Keegan looked dazed and weak, but he wanted to witness this event in history.

Vintari bowed low, and then the Emperor followed up with one of his own. Vintari picked up a hint of ease and arrogance in the expression.

Vintari shook it off, trying to remain calm, serene, and not to tense up, making his movements fluid.

The Emperor attacked first.

Vintari blocked as the Emperor went swinging high from the top, cutting down, he blocked it with ease and then twisted his hand in order to push him off.

The Emperor then swung across his midriff, nearly severing him in two, Vintari used his sword to block off the path, and then swung at the Emperor's head wildly, backing off to get a better position.

The Emperor pressed his attack home.

Vintari continued to back off parrying and parrying the rapid fire blows that were being unleashed against him, working up sweat as he continued to retreat. Keeping his wits about him and blocking the blows.

Vintari picked up his strength, and kneed his opponent in the groin causing the Emperor to double over in great pain.

Vintari swung from top right down, trying to split the Emperor open across the chest. The Emperor blocked it and then spun out back towards the center of the ring, holding his arms out wide when he stopped, holding his blade point down low pointing at the floor. The Emperor was bouncing on his feet trying to stay out of the engagement zone.

Vintari approached cautiously, and slowly, catching his breath and analyzing his next move. His opponent let him come on, watching him like a hawk.

Vintari attacked, coming in with a sweeping stroke from his blade that was easily blocked, but he used that to transfer that to quick and precise strokes and jabs at his chest. Swinging for his opponent's waste, striking at it again and again. Then he transferred those attacks to the head.

The Emperor side stepped his attacks and then countered them with a slash that nearly pushed Vintari's sword out of his hand, and then the Emperor whacked him over the head with a backhand breaking Vintar's nose, causing it to bleed profusely.

He could taste the blood leaking into his mouth, it tasted of acid and full of iron. He glared at his opponent smiled in satisfaction and in victory.

Vintari spat the blood out at the foot of the Emperor in derision. And then he lunged at his opponent. Jumping off the ground and forward with all the strength of his legs, almost moving to tackle, but with his sword out in front pointed at the Centaui Leader's intestines.

The Emperor lunged to one side and then nimbly fell back on his feet, dancing out of the way.

Vintari slashed twice, one from high on the right, and one from high to the left, pushing down slow with one, and then with all of his strength on the next, intending to plough through his opponent.

The Emperor easily blocked these slashes, taking the sting out of Vintari's future attacks. Then he jabbed downwards, looking to open Vintari's stomach up and spill his guts over the cobblestone path.

Vintari saw this just in time and quickly dodged out of the way. The blade struck him on the side, opening a deep cut through his flesh just on the side of the body, his free hand went to the wound as he grimaced. His turn now overbalanced and dropped him to the ground hard in the dust. He found it impossible to get up.

Gasps and jeers of victory greeted him as he twisted to look The Emperor in the eyes. Vintari's opponent had an insane glint in his eyes, reveling in his victory as he was about to become the unchallenged ruler of the Centauri Empire. He would lead his people back to their place.

"You have lost Vintari!" He said, his voice cracking in glee. "Look at you now and behold your sovereign! The sovereign of the whole of the Centarui!" He screamed. "You shall die Vintari, and your blood will seal this empire." The Emperor approached the Crowned Prince easily, cockily, arrogantly.

"No it is you who have lost!" The old graying minister came forward, showing surprising strength of voice for someone so old.

The Emperor turned to face this new threat, mouth wide open in shock.

Vintari tried to get up and strike this mad man down, but he neither had the strength, or the will. Deciding that if he did he would lose the moral authority, he thought it best to let the drama play out.

The Emperor composed himself and smiled cockily at the petulant person before him. "And why is that?"

"Because Emperor Reese," the Minister said calmly, "while this spectacle has been going on the resistance has been working on getting the orbital and Military Defense Codes for the Planetary nexus."

This took the Emperor aback, the color drained from his face as he said deadpan "What?" And then the full weight of the Minister's words sunk into his head. His eyes bulged in anger and shock as he said with white hot rage, "TRAITOR! Arrest him!"

"It is too late for that. The Defense Grid has already been shut down and the proper messages have been sent." The Minister said coolly, suddenly menacing now that the plot had been revealed in full.

As if on cue the screaming of jet engines greeted the ears of everyone in the combat area.

The Earth Forces instantly knew what they were and looked up skyward just as a pair of Thunderbolts passed low overhead. Carrying the squadron markings of the EAS _Gandalf_.

There were yells of shock from the other end of the gardens. Followed by a rush of feet and boots that were approaching the battle arena.

The Centauri looked at the approaching storm with curiosity and bewilderment. In shock at the events that were unfolding before their eyes.

The Earth Alliance officers knew exactly what was happening, and grinned like predatory wolves who had just finished the slaughter of poor innocent pray. Their enemy had been beaten, they were outplayed.

They were safe.

Patterson saw Colonel Norman and a group of Marines and other members of the _Gandalf_ crew come into view beyond some bushes. Entering the arena and then breaking into two lines, one crouching and the other standing.

"_Gandalfs' _aim!" Norman ordered. Fifty two PPG rifles came up in aiming position on fifty two shoulders.

Some of the Centauri procession bolted in an attempt to escape, mainly the women. But then they stopped, realizing that escape would be futile and if the Earth Alliance troops meant any harm that they would be dead by now.

Michael Keegan smiled relieved, his legs finally giving out, causing him to fall.

"Michael!" Stacia gave up her position aside James Norman and rushed forward, holstering her weapon as she went to attend to her CAG.

Patterson had to bite his lip in mild bemusement, absurd amusement and relief at that humble and very human action.

The war was over. Patterson could not be happier.

The Emperor felt broken and alone as he watched the fifty two weapons on him.

The Minister came forward and seized the situation and confusion. "I declare a temporary state of emergency and Vintari will become the next Emperor of the Centauri Republic."

Vintari was in a most undignified position for something as momentous as this, he was weakening due to loss of blood, but was finally gathering the strength to stand.

"Arrest him." Vintari said pointing a shaking finger at the form of the Emperor.

The guards looked relieved and happy at the change of leadership, but quickly transferred that energy into action as they quickly took the Emperor by both arms, before the dazed, confused, and broken man could react to their presence.

They heaved him up by both arms and lifted him off his feat carrying him towards the doors.

Vintari's weakened mind was now catching up to the events that were happening around him.

The Emperor screamed out, "You cannot do this! Its not fair! You promised ME!!!!"

Vintari knew that he was right. Vintari had broken his sacred and solemn oath on the field of honorable combat. He had committed an egregious crime, and that dampened his mood, making it black and he down casted his eyes. He felt ashamed in himself for what he had allowed himself to do.

He felt like his distant relative, taking the throne illegitimately

The old and wise minister came up to him smiling from ear to ear.

But he noticed the mood of his new Sovereign.

Vintari felt a gentle clap on his shoulder and turned to see the Minister standing there, looking solemn. "Its OK you know. I will take care of any of the fall out and probably take the blame for this myself. We need you."

Vintari was silent.

"Oh cheer up, this war is over and we have won."

Vintari turned to him looking somewhat dubious.

"Besides," the old Centauri who had seen way too much war and death turned the two of them around to face the small knot of Humans that were gathering, he smiled shrewdly at the Sovereign. "I doubt our new allies will mind."

Vintari allowed himself a small smile, finally letting himself feel relieved, and with that relief came comfort.

"I need medical attention." He said severely.

"Right this way," the minister said snapping his fingers and gesturing over to two Centauri girls who came over quickly.

They took their new Emperor under charge and guided him over to the medical wing of the palace. Pressing their bodies a little too close to him, trying to catch the Emperor's eye, and his favor.

He was not interested.

Captain Patterson watched the three of them leave, and then turn over to the rapidly growing knot of his crew that were greeting each other as if they had not seen each other in many months.

James Norman, his friend was approaching him, his white hair glinting in the sun.

"James!" Patterson said swinging his hand forward and grasping that of his friend, shaking it wildly, grinning like a stupid idiot.

Relief, triumph, glee, fatigue, and pure joy combined to strip him of military discipline.

And why not, this was a time for celebration.

"Sir." James Norman said simply, grinning as well, glad to see his Captain and his friend safe.

"Status?" Patterson asked having to get that one last piece of military out of the way.

"Ship and crew secure in orbit, we took no damage coming back in, the ships were nowhere to be seen and the defense grids did not fire. We launched a rescue mission, and here we are. The shuttles are gathered in a field about five kicks from here."

"Very good." Patterson said nodding at the information, his first officer had done well. "One moment." he said, leaving the group.

He approached the Centauri group, and the one figure that was separate from it. He was now a social Pariah, a person who had lost all of his reputation and all of his honor to see this plan through, to see his people safe. But now he was broken, never to serve again. But he was oddly content with his sacrifice.

Patterson approached him and made eye contact, saying simply, "Do you have transportation for us? Our assault team landed five klicks out in a field and we need transport to get their easily."

"With pleasure Captain. Incase there are forces loyal to Emperor Reese still around I have gathered a resistance squadron outside royal palace, they will escort you to your ships."

The Earth Alliance Forces got into the ground vehicles, being taken to the ships.

They quickly got into the shuttle and blasted off for the _Gandalf_. When they landed the ship instantly left orbit and surged into the hyper space, heading for home.

After this was done Patterson relieved the ship crew, and they partied, celebrating their good fortune and their place in history.

The war was now over, the future was safe again .


	17. Into the Bold New World

"…to ensure a final and lasting peace between the Centauri Republic and the other races in this Galaxy. Towards that end I will…"

Michael Keepgan was standing in his room back on Earth and was in his white suite jacket. Having long since recovered from his war wounds suffered on Centarui Prime a month ago.

Stacia was there as well getting ready for the evening that they were about to spend with one another.

She was currently in the bathroom, and Michael could just barely hear the sink running in the background as she was finishing up. It turned off suddenly and Michael turned to look at the door like a curious and startled bear.

And she came out into the room and his feelings melted when he saw her again.

"Ready?" She asked, giving him a nice wide smile that set his nerve endings tingling.

"Yeah." He said, taking her arm in his and marching out the door.

Scott Patterson was sitting in a Captains office on Earth Dome, where he had been working for the last month as his ship was going through a complete refit.

He was reading a flexi pad and making notes on it as he went, the 'Earth Force Command/Senate Report to the President of the Cost of the War.' That is what the title read, and it was a grim and sobering report.

The ten month war had claimed:

Two Million plus allied forces dead.

Another Five million wounded.

Four Trillion Combined Standard Credits spent.

Sixty billion Credits of Material destroyed.

Three hundred and forty five ships lost.

Nine Hundred fighters lost.

Two Planetary defense grids eliminated.

Earth home grid reduced to Ninety Percent capacity.

Patterson felt tired and old in reading these reports. But part of that was because he was still pushing off the final report of his own ship. It was waiting there somewhere in the pile, just the casualty and consumption report. The financial report was somewhere else in the pile, what it had cost for him to fight his war.

He could care less.

He sighed internally as he moved onto the report and picked it up by the side and held it up. Fearing it might bite, and trying to determine the length of the actual report.

He finally started to read.

One hundred and forty five men and women dead, full list to follow.

Three hundred and forty three wounded, full list to follow.

Twenty eight fighters destroyed or disabled.

Five fusion missiles and casings launched.

Fifty million plus ion pulses used by main ion batteries.

Fifty four rail cannon rounds.

GOD cannon usage twenty three times.

And the list continued, Patterson was feeling the losses of his crew acutely, their full weight crashing down on him for the first time.

Letters had already been sent to their families by himself, the section commanders, division commanders, and anyone else who had any interest. Providing some small comfort for the dead.

And for their efforts the EAS _Gandalf _had earned four battle stars, eighteen commendations for its living crew, and had ended a war.

He should have been celebrating, to join the crew that was still off because of the refit. But he felt broken and empty as the cost of that war hit him full blast. Never before had he felt this necessary to leave Earth Force. He had served too much and seen too much of war. He could go back home and just live out the rest of his life with his family.

But that did not feel right either.

His life was one of service to his military and to his people. And he knew that he could still do good, knew that this was just temporary, and being in command of one of the most dreaded and complete warships in the Galaxies inventory.

He left his office after making his decision.

He would stay.

Michael Keegan and Stacia Clarke clinked their glasses toasting their good luck. Her eyes were sparkling and her skin was pale and gorgeous, smiling as she sipped at the rich deep red whine.

They were sitting down to enjoy a nice quiet dinner at the end of the war. Though luck seemed to be against them just this once.

They were by far and away not the only ones in the restaurant, and he found the noise partially distracting, Keegan did his best to drown it out and focus on the woman in front of him.

The place was packed full of Earth Alliance naval and Ground Pounding personnel. Who were rowdily celebrating the end of the war even after all of this time.

Drinking, laughing, talking loudly, and a few of them were practicing loud drink games and singing.

And towards one end of the bar a clearly drunk GROPO corporal was chasing around a pretty waitress. But she was clearly enjoying the chase. May have even been drunk herself. As she giggled back at him and shook her assets to edge him on.

His Captain obviously did not know what to make of the spectacle.

On ISN the panel were discussing Vintari's beamed speech that they had just watched and listened to, after the delay of a few days as they waited to get a copy of the re played speech.

The panel discussed the facts of the matter in deep somber tones, reflecting on the events that were unfolding. But, they could hardly contain their own joy at having the war end so suddenly.

But Michael and Stacia, they were here for another matter entirely. Having celebrated the end of their personal war against the Centauri over the four days that it took them to travel back to Earth. Wasting the entire supply of luxury consumables that the crew and officers had either bought, or snuck aboard.

Keegan reflected on how much he had changed over the course of the last year or so. He had gone from being an unassuming and uneasy officer around his superiors In everything but battle truth be told. To an officer that participated boldly with his thoughts and feelings on many a matter.

And his new rank reflected that.

"Congratulations Lieutenant Commander." Stacia said with a mischievous smirk, her tone formal but her intentions anything but.

"Thank you." He said grinning and delivered a humble nod.

His orders had also just come in, he would be returning to the EAS _Gandalf_ as sooon as the ship was ready to depart.

She refilled both their wine glasses and clinked them again in an unspoken toast, sealing the deal as nothing else could.

They both simultaneously looked at the ISN screen. It switched to a domestic story, crime rates were beginning to spike again upwards.

But their dinner arrived and nothing else could distract them as they enjoyed their time. Laughing and carousing about meaningless drivel which felt so good after their long struggle.

They went home and spent the rest of the night there, watching old vids.

Scott Patterson entered the bridge, no one else was there as he had arrived early, just wanting this moment to quietly study the ship.

All the consoles and paint looked brand new, sparkling, smooth, without a dent or blemish. The job that they did over the last month.

He ran one of his hands over a station and felt it, it felt as smooth as it looked, brand new, bought back up to factory specs.

He looked out the front viewer, at the star field, and the gray edge of the ship yard that they were stuck in that was conducting their repairs.

So peaceful

So quiet.

He closed his eyes and took in the distant hum of the ion drive. He was trying to calm his troubled mind for a second, he had spent too much time being busy for his 'celebration'. The responsibilities of those who were in command.

He had fought so long and hard over the past ten months. Having to balance all the annoyances of command to the stress of war and adventure. Relaxing only when he could afford it.

This was one of those moments, as he just stood there at attention, and slowly meditated on his thoughts.

Of course this could not last forever. he heard the back door of the bridge open and he turned curiously to see who it was that could be joining him at this time.

It was the first officer of the _Gandalf_ Colonel James Norman.

"Sir." he said coming up to join Scott.

"Norman." Patterson said happily, enjoying the company.

"Kind of quiet and peaceful here isn't it?" James asked looking out over the same star field.

"That it is." Scott Patterson said looking out over the same view.

They could now make out the first of the shuttles coming into the docking bay, silently creeping up on the warship, to join with it and deposit its cargo and crew.

New and returning men and women would now be under his command, many of them promoted and many of the survivors becoming important enlisted members of the crew now commanding smaller groups of men under Patterson's over all authority.

His time of rest was over, time to get back to work.

Over the next three hours a greater number of crew were busy unloading cargo and putting it on the proper places on the ship.

Loadmasters loaded weapons and probes into the various sealed bunkers to be stored incase they needed it.

Now that they were back at peace and no missions that would require major combat the _Gandalf's _weapon stores were at two thirds maximum.

Stacia Clarke was running checks and stress tests on the refits and the ship, they were completed quickly, and they found nothing wrong. Stacia signed off of the list making her blessings known.

She transmitted her blessing and then went up to the bridge to join the command staff as the _Gandalf_ was about to go to hyperspace away from Earth.

Three hours later and the crew was aboard the ship, the stations were manned, and the supplies were fully loaded.

Patterson signed off on the list that was in his hand and handed it back to the crewman that gave it to him. They were almost ready.

Michael Keegan and Stacia Clarke were standing at the end of the bridge watching the crew attend to their duties, Captain Patterson smiled at the couple, not minding the taste of freedom on this ship.

He turned away though and addressed the room, "intercom on."

The crewman manning the ops station typed in the necessary commands into his station as a whistle tone sounded getting the attention of everyone on the ship. They stopped their remaining work and looked that the speakers, screens, and each other, attentively.

Patterson inhaled before speaking. "Crew of the _Gandalf_ many of us have served together in war, and the rest of you who are joining us have served on various ships during that war."

He glanced around. "We have just completed our great crusade of our times. Our war is over. The adventure continues. We have the rest of this tour to go and serve together, and untold adventure and untold assignments in the future. So welcome, and lets get to work, release moorings, and prepare maneuvering jets."

The helm turned to attend to those orders as the intercom turned off, Patterson sat down and the guests held on to the railings as the _Gandalf_ jettisoned from the station and sped out of the ship yard. Heading off to deep space, jumping to hyperspace.

Not knowing what adventures or what the future would hold for them.


End file.
